OJ Mayo, Draymond Green scuffle after Warriors win

It was the Warriors who were expected to come out of the gates fired up after suffering their first loss of the season six days earlier at Milwaukee.

Heading into Friday night’s game between the Warriors and Bucks, casual fans might have thought this was the second game in a crucial playoff series with all the chatter about revenge and respect. Warriors fans wore shirts with “10-18” across the front in response to the “24-1” shirts that Bucks fans donned last week in hopes their team would hand Golden State its first loss.

Stephen Curry scored 26 points and Draymond Green fueled a key fourth-quarter run that helped the Golden State Warriors avenge their only loss of the season by beating the Milwaukee Bucks 121-112 on Friday night. The two then traded words, and Mayo touched the back of Green’s head. A few more players started shoving, but everything was quickly broken up.

Asked whether that was what the altercation was mostly about, Green said, “Once again, I’m not going to go into what he said, what you think he may have said, he may have said or may not have said, but no man is going to touch my head”. However, Green also made a comment about Carter-Williams being a bench player and making light of that status.

Earlier this week, Green spoke with KNBR about the Carter-Williams situation and added a jab of his own, saying, “Like dude, you lost your starting spot”, he said.

The Bucks almost blew all of a 15-point lead before outfinishing the Warriors 10-5 in the third quarter to take a 93-85 lead into the final period.

“We were trying to hit home runs and shooting the fireballs from deep, things like that”, center Festus Ezeli said.

The Warriors said they weren’t happy with the way the Bucks celebrated their 108-95 victory in Milwaukee on Saturday, when Golden State had its 28-game winning streak snapped. “We’re competitors, so we’re not complaining about it. It is fun to play that way”, Livingston said. “I’m a grown man. That’s all I’ve got for you”.

Small forward Giannis Antetokounmpo backed Carter-Williams with 20 points for Milwaukee, which had lost to the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers to begin a four-game Western swing.

“We were searching”, Green said. “For us, a lot of good things came out of this”.

Green had 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and Ezeli contributed a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Warriors, who were playing for the second time on a five-game homestand.

Former Warriors player Sonny Parker attended the game wearing a Warriors sweatshirt and a Bucks hat.

December 18, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) shoots the baske … The first quarter ended with the Warriors down 33-36 and by half the scoreboard read 58-70. They shot 60 percent in the half as they easily picked apart the Golden State’s defense with the highest-scoring first half against the Warriors since the Oklahoma City scored 71 on January 17, 2014. 

Elsewhere, Detroit continued to show they are a threat in the Eastern Conference, getting home 147-144 in a remarkable quadruple overtime win over the Chicago.

“The guys moved the ball”, Bucks coach Jason Kidd said.