Durant, Beverley ejected late in Warriors' win

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden Stateforward Kevin Durant and LA Clippers guard Patrick Beverley were ejected after receiving a pair of double technicals for repeatedly jawing at each other in the fourth quarter of the Warriors' playoff-opening 121-104 win Saturday night.

The initial set of double technicals came with five minutes left in regulation and the Warriors firmly in control. Durant and Beverley, who exchanged words throughout the game, were each given a technical as the officials tried to make sure the situation between the two didn't escalate. Beverley, who has made a career out of getting underneath opponents' skin, mocked Durant's body movements earlier in the game after being called for a foul on him. At that point, Durant laughed off the exchange.

But tempers flared again just 19 seconds after the first set of technicals were issued when Beverley had the ball and Durant tried to strip him.

With 4:41 left, Durant and Beverley got tangled up after Durant's strip and exchanged more words. Referee Ed Malloy quickly ejected both players as a smile crossed Durant's face. The crowd at a sold-out Oracle Arena chanted, "Warriors!" as Durant and Beverley went to their respective locker rooms.

After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said what frustrated him the most was the fact that Durant has to be more cautious about picking up technicals in the coming weeks because of the potential suspension looming once a player reaches seven in the postseason.

"We took the bait," Kerr said. "[Durant] took the bait, and that's two technicals. You get seven technicals, your seventh one is a suspension in the playoffs. Whether you play four playoff games or 24, seven is the magic number. So he's got four to play with after one game."

Kerr noted the Warriors' coaching staff discussed Beverley's antics with its team in preparation for the series, but the veteran guard still caused havoc.

"That's what Beverley does," Kerr said. "We talked about it for the last couple days. He's a helluva defender, he plays hard, we've got a lot of respect for him -- but you cannot take the bait because that's a bad trade for us. The Clippers have made a lot of good trades this year -- that was probably their best."

Beverley said, "No" when asked after the game whether he was egging on Durant.

"I was just being Pat. It was fun out there," he said. "We competed. I really wish we could've played more without the chippy calls, but I understand it's Game 1 and they're trying to set the tone. But this is the playoffs. People want to come see a good basketball game and not so many fouls, but there's things that we can control."

For his part, Durant, who called the matchup with Beverley "fun," wasn't worried about racking up enough technicals for a potential suspension.

"I can control myself," he said.

Kerr said Sunday that he was confident both Durant and Draymond Green will stay below the suspension threshold in the playoffs.

"I trust Kevin, and Draymond for that matter, in terms of numbers of technicals and all that stuff," Kerr said. "They know what they're doing and I'm confident they'll both stay below that threshold."

As for Saturday's matchup with Beverley, Durant took it all in stride.

"I've been playing against Pat Bev since he was in Arkansas, so I kinda know what he brings," Durant said. "He's a Chicago kid, man -- grew up and raised in the Chicago area, so those dudes played with a different type of grit, so I can appreciate that about Pat. And we know what he's gonna bring to the table -- just physicality, mucking up the game a little bit with his physicality, his talking, just everything -- that's what he brings to each team he plays on. That's his identity, and they support him with the Clippers. So for me, I know that coming into the series, so I thought it was fun tonight."

Clippers coach Doc Rivers wasn't concerned about the episode, believing it was just two competitive players going at each other.

"It was talk," Rivers said. "I don't even know what to say with that one. Pat's gonna talk, and that's legal. And Kevin can talk, too. I don't think either of them -- I dunno -- I think Eddie had to throw them out because it looked bad. And I thought that was the right thing to do, I guess. But it was much ado about nothing."

Kerr said he's hopeful Durant's ejection will be a lesson for the Warriors to not allow Beverley to get into their heads in this series.

"I don't think we even need to say anything now," Kerr said. "We already talked about it for two days. It's one of our keys, don't take the bait, and we took it, so you just can't do it. Sometimes you have to feel it before you can follow through and execute on that, so we're gonna have to be really solid."