There was a heated brawl Tuesday night, and it was not on the ice.
Just 1:43 into the Warriors-Timberwolves NBA In-Season Tournament game in Golden State, the two teams got into a heated scuffle that included Draymond Green putting Rudy Gobert into a headlock.
The fracas started after the Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards missed a 3-point jumper and the Warriors rebounded the ball and took the ball the other way.
That’s when Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels got into it at half-court after Thompson tried to push through McDaniels, who appeared to be impeding his progress up the floor.
McDaniels then grabbed Thompson’s jersey and tried to throw him to the side.
That’s when players from both teams joined the fray, and Green came into the pile, took Gobert by the neck and dragged him to an area close to the Warriors’ bench.
Before long, Green was peeled off Gobert with the help of Karl-Anthony Towns and Edwards as things finally started to cool down with Warriors head coach Steve Kerr appearing to tell Green to “let go.”
When things were all settled, Green, Thompson — whose jersey got torn up — and McDaniels were all ejected from the game, with Green getting issued a flagrant 2 on the spot.
According to OptaSTATS, it was the first time three starters were ejected from a game before either team scored a point.
Gobert ended up hitting both flagrant free throws, which were the first two points of the game after everything was sorted out in a truly chaotic scene at Chase Center.