On Saturday night, when the Milwaukee Bucks ended the Golden State Warriors’ reign of perfection, they were predictably excited.
Here was a young Bucks team that had struggled all season overthrowing the best squad in NBA history. That’s quite the accomplishment, even during a regular season in the middle of December. So yes, they were excited.
Too excited, according to the Warriors.
From ESPN.com’s Ethan Sherwood Strauss:
“Oh, it was a nice celebration. We do remember that stuff.” reigning MVP Stephen Curry said Wednesday night after a 128-103 win over the Phoenix Suns. “We were kind of laughing at some of the stuff going on. It was a big game for them. Friday will be a big game for us.”
Draymond Green shares Stephen Curry’s sentiments:
At the end of the Saturday’s game, Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams dunked the ball and stared down Golden State’s bench, an act Warriors forward Draymond Green described on Bay Area radio station KNBR.
“Michael Carter-Williams getting a dunk at the end of the game and looking at our bench like, ‘Dude you lost your spot,'” Green said of Carter-Williams losing his job as a starter. “So, it’s not quite common that you should be looking toward someone’s bench yelling. You’ve got some ground to make up.”
And Klay Thompson shares Curry’s and Green’s sentiments:
Klay Thompson agreed the rematch with the Bucks was “going to be fun.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the dunk, but the stare-down, trying to talk nasty in the game like that,” Thompson said. “And it’s like, ‘All right, you’re going to see us next Friday and in our building, too.'”
There’s something unfathomably ironic about the Warriors taking exceptions to excessive celebration. This team has founded part of its reputation upon overtly enjoying the dissection of opponents, and their mostly beloved for it. Now, with the exception of perhaps Green, the Warriors aren’t ones to deliver late-game staredowns, but you’d think that, on some level, they could appreciate the elation these Bucks were feeling.
But apparently not.
The Warriors and Bucks meet again on Friday, and it should be fun.
Probably more so for the Warriors, though, than the Bucks.
