The Golden State Warriors secured a 114-106 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in a regular season NBA matchup. The standout moment came when Draymond Green threw down a dunk over Rudy Gobert and celebrated with the “night-night” gesture, a move made famous by Stephen Curry during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
With 31 seconds left on the clock and the Warriors leading by six points, Green took advantage of a screen set by Curry on Gobert, charging toward the basket for a massive dunk to seal the victory.
What made the play even more memorable was Green’s unexpected celebration. He initially thought there would be a stoppage, but when the game continued, he had to sprint back down the court while still doing Curry’s signature “night-night” celebration. Green later revealed that Kevin Durant had texted him about the moment.
“KD [Kevin Durant] texted me last night, the first text I saw was from him. He said, ‘You a fool for running down the court full speed doing night-night,’” Green said during an episode of The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis. “I didn’t know till I watched it back I was running down the court doing that!”
“It’s crazy because I really started doing it,” Green continued. “I thought they called a foul on Jaden McDaniel because he was pushing me. I thought they called an and-one but I couldn’t hear the whistle, which is when I realized I needed to run back.”
Green breaks down the play
In the same episode of his podcast, Green gave a breakdown of the play. “We go to the timeout and Seth Cooper (Warriors Assistant Coach) tells me to do a give-and-go because I had Rudy on me.”
“Seth then comes from behind the bench and tells Steve [Kerr], ‘You should give the ball to Draymond, he can set the offense,’” Green continued. “What I’m initially thinking is that he’s dropping, so I’m going to hand this ball back to Steph. But once he started dropping and Steph started coming up, I just took the great screen set by Steph and ran. Then I hit the night-night.”
Stephen Curry on Green’s ‘night-night’ celebration
After the Warriors’ win over the Timberwolves, Curry expressed his approval of Green’s “night-night” celebration. “Absolutely,” Curry admitted postgame to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Chris Mullin. “I’ve never seen him do it. I know he was in Paris for the gold medal game.”
He joked that fans would never see him celebrate like that after a dunk. “I’m sure he will hit a dagger three at some point,” Curry continued. “But the dagger dunk — that’s new territory for the ‘night night’ because you won’t see me do that.”