Steve Kerr takes issue with Houston’s chants at Draymond Green as Warriors-Rockets series intensifies

Even as the physicality escalated on the court in Tournament of the Warriors first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets coach Steve Kerr supposed the fans inside the soldout Toyota Center crossed the line It s not ideal when a crowd is chanting F you Draymond Kerr revealed after Golden State s - loss Wednesday night evened the series at a match apiece I m all for fans cheering for their squad and if they want to yell at the opponents great But I just think F you is a little much The four-letter word rung out in unison as the clock wound down and Green splayed out on his seat on the Warriors bench It wasn t the first time an opposing crowd has directed the chant toward Green notably happening in Boston during the NBA Finals Green seemed to be less bothered by the obscenities than his coach It s not original he shrugged while polishing his sunglasses behind the microphone Been there before won a championship while it was happening Can t steal other peoples stuff That belongs to Boston Nonetheless as the series shifts to San Francisco it has already taken on the intensity of selected of the Warriors fiercest previous battles Houston played great they were really physical just like we expected Kerr commented We ve just got to lick our wounds and back to work the next morning This is who we ve been all season Houston forward Tari Eason revealed We ve been a tough squad We ve been a gritty grindy unit all season We are who we are The Rockets outrebounded the Warriors by double digits and held them below points for the second consecutive tournament but moreover displayed they weren t afraid to muck it up The teams combined for six technical fouls three apiece and it could have been more Neither Green nor Fred VanVleet were T d up after exchanging words late in the fourth quarter leading to both benches spilling onto the court and needing to be separated The only foul assessed was on Eason who threw a towel into the group of Golden State players With them particular of the guys they ve got over there their thing is to try to beat you mentally Eason explained He didn t name names But the Houston crowd did He s a competitor he s inevitably going to be in the mix I ll ride with Draymond forever Kerr commented Because of his career his championships his fire he s going to be a lightning rod That s all part of it I would prefer fans use a little bit more discretion and remember the guy has kids Maybe I m old school Quinten Post who earned one of the Warriors technicals declared I think you saw a lot more emotions from both sides compared to the first championship of the series Green on the other hand didn t just downplay the crowd but also the intensity on the court in a tournament that saw the Warriors lose Jimmy Butler III to injury battling for a rebound in the first quarter He disclosed he thought it was a little less physical than Challenge and after specific thought Stephen Curry concurred There were just a couple crashes that happened out there reported Curry who wasn t above getting on the ground for a loose ball tussling with the Rockets leading scorer Jalen Green in the first half We know what their M O is and what they re trying to do Use their size and their athleticism to try to bully us We put up a pretty good fight in both games Presumably as physical as Match just a different style Both teams get two days to recover before Battle on Saturday but the Warriors fate likely rests in the results of the MRI that is scheduled for Butler in between He was diagnosed with a pelvic contusion after falling hard on his tailbone While Amen Thompson was called for a common foul on the play it wasn t determined to be a flagrant As he crashed the offensive glass Thompson undercut Butler and took his legs out from underneath him Related Articles Warriors lose chippy Contest to Rockets after Butler injured Warriors lose Jimmy Butler to hard fall in first half of playoff event vs Rockets Warriors Brandin Podziemski questionable for Championship vs Rockets Why Warriors Draymond Green should or shouldn t win the NBA Defensive Athlete of the Year award Warriors looking to pick up the pace against old-school Rockets in Battle The Warriors didn t believe it was a dirty play I appealed our guys behind the bench and they mentioned it just looked like there was several physicality on the rebound and Thompson just inadvertently identified himself underneath Jimmy Kerr announced We didn t think there was anything wrong with the play It was just one of those plays Green as consistently determined himself in the middle of it I was trying to box out Thompson he revealed Somehow he ended up under Jimmy s legs