Warriors overcome early Green ejection to beat Magic

The Golden State Warriors claimed a 101-93 victory against the Orlando Magic despite the early ejection of forward Draymond Green.

Green received his fourth ejection of the season just three minutes and 36 seconds into the game after disputing a foul call on Stephen Curry.

It was his second technical foul having earlier argued against a personal call.

Green missed 16 games after he was suspended in December for striking Phoenix Suns player Jusuf Nurkic.

In November, the 34-year-old was given a five-game ban for putting Minnesota Timberwolves centre Rudy Gobert in a headlock.

He was also suspended during last year’s play-offs after stamping on Sacramento Kings player Domantas Sabonis.

Despite Green’s ejection, the Warriors, who sit 10th in the Western Conference, backed up Tuesday’s win against the Miami Heat as Andrew Wiggins scored a team-high 23 points while Curry finished with 17 points and 10 assists. Magic’s second-straight loss keeps them fifth in the Eastern Conference.

After missing Tuesday’s victory against the Milwaukee Bucks with an ankle injury, LeBron James returned for the Los Angeles Lakers as they claimed a 136-124 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, extending their winning streak to five to leave them a game and a half back from eighth-placed Sacramento Kings in the Western.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Kevin Durant scored 30 points and had 13 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns beat the Western table-topping Denver Nuggets 104-97.

The Brooklyn Nets hung on to claim a 122-119 victory at the Washington Wizards, while the Chicago Bulls, ninth in the Eastern, gave their play-off hopes a boost in beating the Indiana Pacers 125-99.