Last night in the NBA: Kevin Durant instructs reporters not to ask him about Draymond Green incident

Staff Writer

Nov. 16, 2018 11 AM PT

Here’s what happened on a night where Kevin Durant declared he never wants to be asked about that again:

The Warriors lose Game 8 — and maybe more

Golden State played Houston for the first time this season, wounded from an in-team drama that’s dominated NBA discussion since late Monday night, and though the Warriors vowed they would be fine, it didn’t exactly look that way.

Golden State scored only 86 points in the loss against the Rockets, who are playing better of late. For a team that usually rises to the moment, it was strange to see Golden State wither.

Draymond Green, who is at the center of the Warriors’ storm, was scoreless in 24 minutes after taking time at shootaround earlier in the day to address an incident from earlier in the week involving Kevin Durant.

He said he and the Warriors’ star were good, they had moved on and the team would be brought closer together. But someone asked Durant about his relationship with Green postgame, and he seriously instructed the media to never ask him that again.

That’s not a great sign — about as bad as the 86 points.

Melo’s grounded in Houston

Not to be outdone, the Rockets announced that they are indeed ending their relationship with Carmelo Anthony, though he’s not being formally released as of now.

In a statement, the team praised Anthony’s professionalism in his 10 games with the Rockets — a nice sentiment that almost is a bigger indictment of what Houston thinks about Anthony’s ability to help.

If he had been a jerk, a new situation might’ve turned things around. But this is about skill — and about Anthony’s style no longer having much use in the modern NBA.

He’ll end up somewhere, but he’s running low on options.

The Clippers keep it going

Even with DeMar DeRozan playing well, even with Bryn Forbes draining threes, the Spurs didn’t have enough to beat the Clippers — putting them in a group with the Bucks and the Warriors as teams who couldn’t drop Clamp City at Staples Center.

The Clippers got another clutch shot from Lou Williams, and they got good minutes off the bench from Tyrone Wallace and energy from Montrezl Harrell.

Eight different players scored at least seven points. The Clippers’ balance and energy make them tough to prepare for and the schedule is about to lighten up a little after the team navigated a tough stretch to start the year.

They’re playing great basketball.

The Spurs will turn it around…

…at least DeRozan will.