Without Green down the stretch, the Warriors still managed to win all three contests. They don\u2019t exactly believe they\u2019ve stumbled upon a new winning strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat ain\u2019t the formula,\u201d said Jimmy Butler, who had 15 points and seven assists. \u201cNo, no, no, no, no. We need \u201923\u2019 out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need Draymond,\u201d Kerr said following Saturday night\u2019s 123-114 win over the Utah Jazz. \u201cI want him out there. I think he\u2019s up to about nine techs. We\u2019re not halfway through the season yet. A long way to go, and we need him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green\u2019s latest ejection on Saturday occurred in the final minutes of the first half. With 2:25 remaining in the second quarter, Green was T\u2019d up by referee Simone Jelks following a dunk by Lauri Markkanen. Green did not speak following the game, but he appeared to believe that Kyle Filipowski committed a three-second violation.<\/p>\n
Following the first tech, Green continued passing his case to Kevin Cutler. It\u2019s not uncommon for Green to receive some grace even as he continues his pleas. On this night, Cutler hit Green with another technical. Before halftime, Green\u2019s night was over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t hear what he said, but it was a quick one,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cI know he got the \u2018T\u2019 right away, and then Kevin tossed him almost immediately. I don\u2019t know what he said, but I assume it was something that Kevin just wasn\u2019t going to listen to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI plead the fifth,\u201d Butler said. \u201cFifth!\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Golden](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/BNG-L-WARRIORS-0104-10.jpg\")
Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green #23 is guarded by Utah Jazz’s Kevin Love #42 in the first quarter of their NBA game at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Warriors trailed by 12 points after Markkanen hit two technical free throws, but without Green, they outscored the Jazz by 19 points for the remaining two quarters and change. Steph Curry left his imprint on the night, dropping 20 of his 31 total points in the third quarter to propel Golden State to its sixth game in its last eight tries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won the game,\u201d Curry said. \u201cThat\u2019s all we care about, that\u2019s all he cares about. I know he\u2019d rather be out there. I don\u2019t know what he said to the ref, but the consensus in the locker room was it wasn\u2019t enough to get thrown out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re a man down, you really got to pick up everything,\u201d Butler said. \u201cIt\u2019s generally hard to cover up what he does on both sides of the floor. The IQ on both sides of the floor, obviously, the defense, (getting) everybody the ball. Dray started off hot today, you know what I\u2019m saying? It\u2019s so hard to do what he does, but it\u2019s a collective effort when he\u2019s not out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green finished with fine counting stats against Utah during his limited time on the floor (eight points, three rebounds, two assists) but ended the night with a team-low +\/- of -15.<\/p>\n
Nights in the negative have been common for Green as of late. Over his last 11 games, Green has a plus-minus of minus-65, finishing with a positive figure on only two occasions. When asked about Green\u2019s recent on\/off numbers, Kerr said the team has \u201cbeen a little jumbled this year\u201d and attributed small sample sizes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you this: You look at Draymond\u2019s career and he\u2019s on the plus side in a massive way over and over again,\u201d said Kerr of Green. \u201cThe last eight, 10 games, we\u2019ve started the same way. We\u2019ve had a better feel, better rotation. I think overall we\u2019re playing better, and I think he\u2019s playing better as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 For the third time in the last eight games, Draymond Green failed to finish a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,159,160,479,164,4025,4024,155,165,6,161,162,163,66,255,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-516166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-golden-state","12":"tag-golden-state-warriors","13":"tag-goldenstate","14":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","15":"tag-inside-sports","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-peninsula","19":"tag-san-francisco","20":"tag-san-francisco-county","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-warriors","23":"tag-warriors-hq"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115837203360075003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}