Draymond Green reveals what heckling Pelicans fan said to spark confrontation originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Draymond Green heard the trash talk from a New Orleans Pelicans fan on Sunday night, and he had something to say in response.

Following the Warriors’ 124-106 win over the Pelicans, Green addressed the odd scene that occurred at Smoothie King Center.

“He just kept calling me a woman,” Green told reporters in New Orleans (h/t The San Francisco Chronicle’s Sam Gordon). “It was a good joke at first, but you can’t keep calling me a woman. I got four kids, one on the way. Can’t keep calling me a woman. Yeah, he got quiet, though. So it’s fine.”

Green explained how the fan’s tone changed once the Warriors forward approached him.

“Well, he was talking at first, and then you get a little closer. And he didn’t really say much else. But no, it’s fine, we’ll move on.

“Yeah, he just kept calling me a woman’s name and I am not … Do I look like a woman? Do I look like a woman? … Lisa Leslie was a good rebounder, too. She’s older than me, you know, but she don’t be disrespectful. It’s cool. We move on.”

Following a Warriors’ foul late in the second quarter, Green walked up to the fan along the baseline and exchanged words with him. Referee Courtney Kirkland quickly intervened and de-escalated the situation before it could get physical.

Green praised Kirkland’s actions.

“He just told me, ‘I got it. I’ve heard him over and over and over again. You’ve handled it well. Don’t get yourself in no trouble. I’ll take care of it.’ Courtney was great,” Green told reporters.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr had no issue with how Green handled the situation.

“As long as it doesn’t escalate, it’s fine to go over and have a discussion,” Kerr told reporters. “I had no problem with it. It would have been nice if security had gotten there a little bit earlier … it’s hard to comment on it because I don’t know what was said.”

Arena security approached the fan and reportedly gave him a card indicating that he had been warned.

The Warriors picked up their third consecutive road win, beating a Pelicans team that didn’t have star forward Zion Williamson and former Golden State guard Jordan Poole, and just fired coach Willie Green on Saturday.

Even with Steph Curry in the building, the vibe from Pelicans fans was muted — aside from Green’s heckler.

But winning any road game makes Green happy.

“I love it,” Green told reporters. “I love disrespect on the road because, you know, we win a lot. Not this year, we haven’t won a lot, but we usually win a lot on the road. So quieting a home crowd is always fun. This crowd wasn’t too loud to begin with, so, yeah.”

Green wasn’t penalized in the moment for the incident and he likely won’t face any punishment from the league.

In the end, cooler heads prevailed before something really bad happened.

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George upgraded to questionable, Oubre and Bona sidelined for Sixers  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers had several pieces of significant injury news Sunday.

The first worth noting is that Paul George’s return appears imminent. George, who’s yet to play this season for the 7-5 Sixers, was listed as questionable for the team’s Monday night matchup vs. the Clippers.

George underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in July. He’s been practicing for over a month and looked sharp in post-practice workouts. 

A Sixers official said Tuesday that “the final stage” of George’s return process involved “the continued strengthening of his left quadricep.” The 35-year-old forward seems very close to checking off that final box.

The Sixers listed Kelly Oubre Jr., Adem Bona and Joel Embiid as out.

On the injury report, Oubre’s injury is described as a “left knee sprain.” He suffered the injury Friday in the second quarter of the Sixers’ loss to the Pistons. A team official said Sunday afternoon that Oubre has a left knee LCL injury and is meeting with specialists. 

The Sixers will need to make major adjustments without Oubre, who averaged 34.8 minutes over the first 12 games and posted 16.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 steals per contest. 

“Hopefully, it won’t be too serious,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said. “But he’s really having a career year and he’s doing a lot of little things that don’t show up in the numbers as well. So we’ve got to take a good, strong look and see who’s plugging into all those little areas. He loves to play, loves to be out there. He’s super disappointed, obviously. … Let’s just hope it’s not too long. He’s been great this year.”

Justin Edwards is one obvious candidate to assume a larger role without Oubre. Dominick Barlow is another young player who looks set for plenty of minutes in the short term. He logged an impressive 29 against Detroit in his return from a nine-game absence with a right elbow laceration. Barlow said Sunday he’d only been able to do “a couple days of real cardio” while sidelined, but the 22-year-old forward’s conditioning wasn’t problematic in a 10-point, eight-rebound outing.

“That was about a full load for him right there,” Nurse said. “That was a lot for him the other night. I just think he’s a really important part of what we’re doing. He plays really hard, he transfers the ball (well), he’s got IQ. He just does a lot of really good things for us. As long as he keeps playing like that, he’s going to play a lot.”

Bona will miss at least the next three games because of a right ankle sprain. Andre Drummond will presumably remain the Sixers’ starting center for the time being.

Embiid will sit out his fourth straight game on Monday. He was a full practice participant Sunday, per a team official, and the Sixers have changed his injury designation from “right knee soreness” to “right knee injury management.” 

What we learned as Moses Moody drops career-high 32 points in Warriors' huge win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

Winning three consecutive games might not feel so special for the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Denver Nuggets, but it’s worthy of a small celebration for the Warriors.

Golden State’s 124-106 win over the Pelicans on Sunday in New Orleans represents its first sign of momentum this season, guarantees at least a .500 road trip and assures the Warriors (9-6) will have a winning record when they return to the Bay Area on Friday.

Moses Moody led the offense, dropping a career-high 32 points on high efficiency, while Jimmy Butler contributed a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists, adding three rebounds. Brandin Podziemski continued his scoring uptick, putting in 19 points, while Buddy Hield chipped in 11.

The Warriors recorded 34 assists and drained a season-high 24 3-pointers, on 56 attempts, with Moody most responsible for showing the way.

Here are three observations from the fourth game of a six-game road trip:

Moody bounces back

If anyone on the Warriors needed a bounce-back game, it was Moody. Playing 30 minutes Friday night, he scored four points on 2-of-8 shooting, including 0-of-4 from beyond the arc in the win over the Spurs in San Antonio.

Moody bounced back in one of the most fantastic ways possible. He tried to bury the Pelicans early, scoring 21 points in the first quarter on 7-of-8 shooting from deep. He was plus-17 for the quarter and accounted for nearly half of Golden State’s 44 points, its highest total for any quarter this season.

Moody’s 21 points and seven triples represent career-highs in a single quarter for both categories. The seven 3-pointers are a career high for a game and are the most treys made by any player in any quarter this season.

Moody’s initial blast immediately gave the offense a jolt before he cooled over the final three quarters. His 32 points came on 10-of-16 shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 from the line. He was plus-22 over 32 minutes.

Bench brings a punch

Golden State’s bench, among the most offensively potent in the league, averaging 40.2 points per game before nosediving in the two previous games in San Antonio, returned to form at Smoothie King Center.

After scoring a total of 42 points in the two games against the Spurs, the bench crew produced 48 against the Pelicans.

Podziemski’s 19 points, on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, including 3-of-7 from distance, represent his highest total since he dropped 23 against the Grizzlies on Oct. 27.

Hield, in the deep freeze the past two weeks, averaging six points per game in November, tossed in 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. This is the second time this season he has made at least three triples.

Al Horford dropped in two 3-pointers for six points, while Quentin Post, Pat Spencer, Gui Santos and Trayce Jackson-Davis combined for the other 12 points.

Quiet night for the Chef

New Orleans came with a game plan Golden State has seen many times, rolling out the Anybody-but-Steph defense.

And as bad as the Pelicans have been this season, it’s something in their bag. They have in 6-foot-8 Herbert Jones one of the league’s best perimeter defenders, and 6-foot-8 Trey Murphy III provided plenty of supplemental assistance on the 6-foot-3 Curry.

The result was double- and triple-teams that never let Curry get any shooting rhythm – he even missed a free throw – and nudged him toward a decoy role. He didn’t sink his first goal until the third quarter, on his seventh attempt, a transition layup on a charity dime from Butler. His first 3-pointer came three minutes later.

Coming off successive performances of 46 and 49 points over his last two games, Curry finished with nine points on 2-of-11 shooting from the field, including 1-of-6 from beyond the arc. His gravity still was an asset, as he finished plus-18 over 28 minutes.

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