"It's sad. He didn't learn anything": Jusuf Nurkic calls out Draymond Green's unchanged ways, foresees more trouble
Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic minced no words when talking about Draymond Green after the two bigs went toe-to-toe in the Golden State Warriors vs. Phoenix Suns marquee matchup on Saturday. The real hero might have been Steph Curry with his clutch heroics, but it was Green and Nurkic garnering all the spotlight with their back-and-forth throughout the game.
The Warriors scraped through with a 113–112 win. The face-off between the two was the first since Green was suspended infinitely after he clocked Nurkic in the head.
In addition to the physical play between the two, the centers also hit the "too small" celebration on each other. And that didn't end on the floor, as the Bosnian star took shots at the 4x NBA champion when he addressed the media following the Suns loss.
"It's sad. He (Green) didn't learn anything, man. Just a matter of time, he's going to knock somebody else again. Take everything back what I said. He don't deserve a chance," Nurkic said.
When Green bopped him in the head, Nurkic expressed a similar reaction. In terms of gameplay, the former faced Green and was verbal from the outset. One of the instances saw his mouth the words, "Get outta here" to the Warriors star.
As far as their performances, Green ended his evening with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists. Jusuf Nurkic had an off day with just 6 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
"It ain't working": Draymond Green doesn't hold back on Jusuf Nurkic in postgame comments
On his part, Draymond Green lashed back at Jusuf Nurkic as well when asked about the latter's comments and their skirmish during the game. There was some support coming in from Curry as well, who dismissed the Suns' center's comments as "idiotic."
"(Nurkic) can keep riding the same horse that he rode in on, he can ride his ass on out of here on the same horse. It ain't working," Green said.
After putting Green at center, the Warriors' defense has improved significantly and the Warriors' 6-1 record in their past seven games shows that they are working to storm back into contention.
The victory on Saturday also guaranteed that the hosts would not be swept by the Suns this season. It will be a while before the NBA sees the two heavyweights clash again.