Bradley Beal and Draymond Green thrown down in tight showdown

The Golden State Warriors have put a target on their backs with their flashy antics and their cocky attitudes. Many players save their best nights for the Warriors in an attempt to show them up and show the basketball world they’re ready for the spotlight.

The Washington Wizards came to town after suffering an embarrassing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in which they publicly taunted rookie Lonzo Ball over social media days before the game came to fruition. Bradley Beal and John Wall have long claimed to be the best backcourt duo in the NBA, but have failed to live up to their self proclaimed title.

While previous matchups between the two teams have seen Steph Curry and Klay Thompson dismiss those claims emphatically with demonstrative performances, Friday’s matchup appeared to be the breakthrough game for Wall and Beal. However, in the final seconds of the first half, a scuffle between Bradley Beal and Draymond Green flipped the script.

Following a block by Green and a physical boxout for the rebound on the following shot, Beal and Green became entangled and began to quarrel. The two tangled players took their shoving match to the ground as teammates and officials rushed to the scene to break it up before the situation escalated any further. To add insult to injury, Wizards combo forward Kelly Oubre joined the scuffle and threw a punch that coincidentally landed with precision on teammate John Wall’s neck.

The two instigators were ejected for fighting and despite building an 18 point lead in the second half, the Wizards dropped the game to Golden State 120-117. The frustration from Beal was understandable and justified, but the results just go to show that in order to beat the Warriors, you have to play with your heart and keep your head in the game.

Washington was oh so close to picking up a monumental win over the defending champs, but with offensive weapons like Kevin Durant and Steph Curry, you can’t miss a beat on the other end. They will have the chance to stake their claim as best backcourt in the world once more in February after the Allstar break.

Hopefully the Wizards will have learned their lesson and can close the game next time around. Until then, the title clearly belongs to Curry and Thompson and it really isn’t even that close.