Durant fires Warriors after Green kept out

Kevin Durant scored 29 points as the Golden State Warriors set aside their off-court discord to post a 110-103 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

The National Basketball Association champions went into the game at the Oracle Arena against a backdrop of controversy, with power forward Draymond Green suspended following his bust-up with Durant 24 hours earlier.

Durant and Green had a heated off-court exchange during Monday’s 116-121 overtime defeat to the Clippers in Los Angeles.

That spat prompted Warriors management to take the unusual step of imposing a one-game suspension on Green for “conduct detrimental to the team”.

But Durant wasn’t sharing any details.

“I’m going to keep that in house, that’s what we do here,” he said. “I’m not trying to give nobody no headlines. What happened, happened. We’re trying to move on, we’re just trying to play basketball.”

The Warriors looked to be suffering a hangover from the row in the early stages against Atlanta, trailing 49-52 at halftime against the Hawks, who are 3-10.

The hosts raised their game in the second half, however, taking charge after outscoring the Hawks 33-24 in the third quarter before closing out the win.

Durant was given offensive support by Klay Thompson, who scored 24 points while Quinn Cook had 18 and Jonas Jerebko added 14.

“Not an easy game back-to-back, just coming in a little fatigued, a little emotionally spent and we had to grind it out,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I’m proud of the guys. It wasn’t our best game but it was a good effort. We stayed solid.”

The Warriors remain on top of the Western Conference standings with 11 wins and only three defeats.

Six Atlanta players reached double figures, with Taurean Prince leading with 22 points and Kent Bazemore 18.

Elsewhere, it was: Rockets 109, Nuggets 99; and Cavaliers 113, Hornets 89.