Steve Kerr enters his presser, flops on a reporter and jokes it should be a foul. He then discusses the noise coming out of the Rockets camp at length. pic.twitter.com/KS0PC8DmvE
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 29, 2019
Steve Kerr has done some good-natured trolling in the past, but the way he started his media session on Monday was an all-timer.
The topic de jour from the Warriors’ Game 1 win over the Rockets has been the referees, and whether or not they missed a number of instances where Golden State defenders slid under Houston 3-point shooters. Monday’s two-minute report stated that there was no foul on James Harden’s potential game-tying 3-point shot, but did determine that the refs missed three late calls that would’ve benefited Houston.
Adding more fuel to the fire is a report by Sam Amick of The Athletic, the revealed the Rockets have believed the league has officiated the Warriors unfairly, and that they believe the refs cost them a birth in the NBA Finals last year.
This leads us to Kerr’s media session on Monday afternoon at the team facility, where the Warriors head coach decided to have a little fun with it, pretending to flop in Harden-like fashion, into longtime San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ann Killion.
“Who was that a foul on?” A reporter asked.
“That was on Ann,” a smiling Kerr joked.
Kerr then talked at length about the chatter surrounding Game 1
“It’s disappointing because the focus should be on two teams playing extremely hard. I mean watching the tape both teams just got after it and competed. But we just watched the tape upstairs, you don’t think there were 10 calls that we thought we got fouled? I mean this is how it goes, and every coach in the league will tell you the same thing. You watch the tape and you go ‘that’s a foul, that’s a foul’ it’s the nature of the game.
“It’s very difficult to officiate an NBA game. There are all kinds of grey area and in the modern game, a lot of players have gotten really good a deception. Creating contact. I don’t remember people falling down on 3-point shots all the time when I played. It was a different rule. Once you release the ball you were allowed to make contact, there was no foul.
“There’s so much deception as part of it that it’s very very difficult to officiate. But every coach in the league will tell you: You watch the tape afterwards and you think: ‘Man, we got screwed.’ But the reality is you get some, you lose some, the refs do the best job they can, and then you move on to the next game.
“So I’m disappointed this has become the whole narrative when it really should be about two great teams competing against each other.”
