Warriors reserve shooting guard Klay Thompson, briefly back in the starting lineup ahead of standout rookie Brandin Podziemski, submitted a masterful 28-point performance in Golden State’s 113-92 away victory over the Heat. Anthony Slater of The Athletic makes the case for Thompson to remain in the Warriors’ first five after his big night. Thompson had been on the bench for the Warriors since the middle of last month.

“Get a little more spacing on the floor to start the game,” head coach Steve Kerr said of his decision to elevate Thompson. “It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s permanent. Just felt like tonight it was important.”

Per Slater, the team’s five-man Tuesday starting lineup of Thompson, All-Star point guard Stephen Curry, forwards Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga, and small-ball center Draymond Green has outscored the teams they’re playing by a margin of 55 points, across 157 minutes.

There’s more out of the Chase Center:

• Green was ejected from last night’s Warriors game against the Magic after less than four minutes on the floor after an exchange with referee Ray Acosta over an initial foul call. Curry and Kerr both weighed in on the impact of Green’s ejection, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “We need him,” Curry said. “He knows that. We all know that… So whatever we need to do to keep him on the floor and be available, that’s what’s got to happen. Especially at this point in the year. It was a tough way to start the game.” Kerr offered similar sentiments. “It was unfortunate,” Kerr said. “He deserved it. He’ll bounce back.” After the contest, crew chief Mitchell Ervin explained that the choice was not influenced by Green’s lengthy history of suspensions in the past.
• A Warriors source informed Slater seemed relatively relaxed about the Green suspension, Slater writes in another piece. “What?” the source said. “Did we really just expect he was never gonna get ejected again?”
• After the fact, Green seemed to agree with Kerr’s assessment of the ejection, according to ESPN. “I said what I said,” Green noted on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show. “I deserved to be kicked out at that point. If I’m all the way honest with y’all, kind of was trying to turn my body and angle it to go to the bench, but I said what I said a little too soon before angling my body.”