Golden State Warriors: Kevin Durant wrongly ejected in loss vs. Bucks
The Golden State Warriors lose 116-107 to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.
Hosting Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks at Oracle Arena on Thursday, the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors once again failed to nab their 55th victory of the season, ending their four-game homestand 1-3 with a 116-107 loss.
With Kevin Durant and Draymond Green back in the lineup, the Warriors looked much more motivated to start the night against the Bucks, finishing the first quarter trailing Milwaukee 29-27.
The second quarter featured a handful of lead changes, but the Bucks ended the half on a 9-0 run to lead the Dubs 58-49. Possibly the biggest story of the night, however, came near the end of the first half:
After fighting through a great deal of contact, aggressively driving into the lane and seemingly drawing numerous fouls on his way to the basket, Durant initialized a rather conservative dialogue with referee Tre Maddox, who had apparently swallowed his whistle in the last minute of the second quarter.
Despite the rather fair display of frustration from Durant, Maddox opted to quickly call two consecutive technical fouls on KD, ejecting the superstar forward in his first game back from a debilitating rib injury.
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The Warriors expectedly came out of the locker room a tad slow without their main gun, giving up a 34-23 third quarter. They ended up winning the fourth quarter 35-24, but it just wasn’t enough to overcome the 20-point lead Milwaukee had established 12 minutes earlier.
Despite their win/loss record dropping to 54-21, Golden State remains firmly cemented in at the top of the Western Conference with the second seed. Following a scheduled practice on Friday, the Warriors will hit the road to visit the Golden 1 Center for a Saturday night matchup against the Sacramento Kings.
Five Warriors finished in double-digits on Thursday, led by Quinn Cook‘s career-high 30 points, four rebounds, and three assists in 32 minutes. He shot 12-of-15 from the field, 5-of-5 from behind the arc and 1-of-1 from the free throw line.
Patrick McCaw posted 12 points, three rebounds and three assists in 35 minutes, while JaVale McGee also recorded 12 points to go with two blocks on 6-of-7 shooting.
After missing the past two contests, Draymond Green came back to put in 11 points, five rebounds, six assists, two steals and one block in 28 minutes. He shot 4-of-7 from the field, 1-of-2 from long range and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
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Kevin Durant notched 10 points, three rebounds and six assists in the 17 minutes he played prior to his ejection.