Mayo stands up for teammate Carter-Williams in postgame chat with Green
Tensions were high on Friday night at Oracle Arena when the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors (26-1) eked out a 121-112 comeback win over the Milwaukee Bucks (10-18) - the team responsible for the lone blip on their otherwise flawless record.
Following the victory, Warriors forward Draymond Green and Bucks guard O.J. Mayo engaged in a rather heated back-and-forth before leaving the court.
Mayo later said that he was merely sticking up for his teammate Michael Carter-Williams, whom Green publicly chastised for dunking and staring down Golden State's bench at the end of a 108-95 Bucks win last Saturday.
"I told (Green) he's a heck of a player, but at the end of the day, that's my teammate," Mayo said, according to ESPN's Ethan Strauss. "Just respect my teammate as well as we respect you guys, and some things you shouldn't say in the media. Show your class, you know.
"You talk about one guy's class, and then you go the same route. Not a class act."
Draymond Green & O.J. Mayo chat after Warriors get their revenge on Bucks pic.twitter.com/pUcPV5EW3Y
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) December 19, 2015
Green - who poked fun at Carter-Williams for being demoted to the second-unit during an appearance on Bay Area radio station KNBR - got particularly aggravated when Mayo touched his head, which led to a mini skirmish that Bucks swingman Khris Middleton eventually interjected himself in.
"I'm not really into talking about what guys say. What you think he said he may not have said or he may have said," Green said about Mayo's postgame comments to him. "Just, ain't no man going to touch my head. I'm a grown man. That's all I've got for you."
There doesn't appear to be any more animosity between Green and Carter-Williams, though, with the Bucks point guard mentioning that the two exchanged words during the game.
"I spoke to him (Green) on it," Carter-Williams said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal's Charles Gardner. "I'm not a big fan of trying to call somebody out in the media. He spoke to me and basically he said, 'It's all love; it's all part of the game. I'm just trying to get my team going.'"