Steve Kerr discusses his preseason ejection pic.twitter.com/nkFa6wBbac
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 9, 2018
Maybe Steve Kerr was just hungry.
The Warriors head coach was ejected in the Warriors’ 117-109 preseason loss to the Phoenix Suns Monday night after the referee called Stephen Curry for an illegal screen. It was Curry’s third offensive foul of the night and Golden State’s sixth.
After the game, Kerr joked that he got ejected to get a head start on the “good postgame (food) spread,” per Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“It’s usually out there by late third quarter, so I wanted to be the first one in the buffet,” Kerr told reporters.
But Kerr wanted to make a point. The excess of offensive fouls had taken its toll. He said the moment he started arguing the foul on Curry, he tried getting ejected.
“I was frustrated,” Kerr said. “I was in the wrong, obviously. I got what I deserved.
Yes, I was trying to make a point. I was trying to back up my guys. We had all of these offensive fouls, one after another. I finally had enough.”
Kerr’s ejection elicited a variety of postgame reactions out of his players.
Stephen Curry said he “loved it” before giving a serious answer as to what Kerr’s temperament means to the team.
“(We have a) good vibe going about what we are doing,” Curry told reporters. “Obviously, it’s never too early to get that fire going. So, we will see how we will sustain that throughout the year. Obviously, a blatant call we think should go one way goes the other, he’s going to have a reaction to it, doesn’t matter if it’s preseason, regular season, or playoffs. It’s nice for him to have that fire, for sure.”
Curry continued on, talking about the team’s camaraderie, and how Kerr binds everything together.
“We are all in this together, and we have to have each other’s backs, is one of our core principles,” Curry said. “(Kerr) has opportunities to try to influence things with outbursts if he needs to, or stuff he says to us in the locker room or whatever the case is. Knowing we are out there giving everything we got throughout the year, coach has your back, not pinching his wallet when he has an opportunity to speak his mind, that means a lot.”
Kevin Durant felt the same way Kerr did.
“The ref called a lot of offensive fouls,” Durant told reporters. “The last one he called, I think that got us all riled up right there. But it happens. It’s part of the game.”
Kevon Looney chuckled as he talked about Kerr’s ejection by bringing up Durant’s history of them. The four-time NBA scoring champion was later ejected after Kerr.
“I guess he is getting ready for the regular season,” Looney told reporters. “You have to expect one ejection each year. I think he beat KD to it. I thought KD was going to get ejected.”
After Kerr was tossed, he waved goodbye to the referee and told him, “I don’t want to be here, anyway.” Curry liked that one.
“It’s pretty good,” said Curry, smiling. “I felt a certain type of way he didn’t want to be there.”