Draymond Green Justifies Decision to Throw Down Khaman Maluach in Warriors-Suns Game

On the Thursday edition of his podcast, Draymond Green justified his decision to throw down Khaman Maluach during Monday's Suns-Warriors game.

The sequence started with Maluach trying to get post position on Green, resulting in Green falling to the ground.

After falling, Green argued that throwing down Maluach "must happen."

He believed if he let Maluach score on him like that without any repercussions, Maluach and the Suns would have lost respect for his defense and it would have led to a scoring party in the paint.

"I can't fall, and you score, and you just take off running back down the court—the story can't end like that," Green said. "You can't anchor a defense if you're going to let the story end like that."

Moments later, Dillon Brooks grabbed Green, and the two got into a pretty typical NBA "scuffle" after a hard foul.

When the dust settled, Green was given two technical fouls—one for the Maluach throwdown and one for the struggle with Brooks—which meant he was ejected. Brooks was give one technical foul.

Green Comments on Brooks

In his postgame press conference, Brooks said Green was "tweaking" all game, which Green disagreed with.

Green claimed that Brooks said that to get people to be on his side.

Brooks also said he was trying to "de-escalate" by grabbing Green, which Green once again disagreed with.

Green said Brooks was trying to be the villain and had no intention of de-escalating anything.

"Miles Bridges was trying to de-escalate," Green said. "You weren't trying to de-escalate. You were trying to be the villain. So, be that. But then don't go to the media and be like, 'I was de-escalating.' That's whack."

Next Brooks-Green Game Should Have Extra Juice

The Warriors and Suns next play each other on Dec. 28, but you can just about guarantee the Warriors will be resting Stephen Curry and Green for that game. That's because it's the back end of a back-to-back and the third game in four days.

The only other time these two teams play this season is April 6. That's the last week of the regular season.

To be sure, Green and Brooks had no love lost before this game, so it's not like they need extra motivation when they play against each other.

After all, the Warriors defeated Brooks' Grizzlies and Rockets teams in the playoffs, and Brooks' Suns eliminated the Warriors in the play-in tournament last year.

But you have to believe the next Green-Brooks game will have a little more to it after the throwdown and ensuing scuffle.

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