After the Warriors fell to the Rockets in the NBA Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday by a score of 91-90, a furious Steve Kerr blasted the officiating crew for a late-game call that led to Houston’s winning free throws, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“I’m pissed off,” the Warriors’ head coach said. “I wanted to go to Las Vegas. We wanted to win this Cup, and we aren’t going because of a loose ball foul, 80 feet from the basket with the game on the line. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, and that was ridiculous.”
With Golden State up 90-89 and about 10 seconds left on the clock, Stephen Curry missed a three-point attempt and both teams scrambled to corral the rebound (Twitter video link via Bleacher Report). Warriors guard Gary Payton II initially fell on the ball and attempted to pass it to Jonathan Kuminga as two Houston defenders descended on him. Rockets guard Jalen Green gained control and attempted to call a timeout while Kuminga tried to pry the ball away from him.
A whistle blew at that point, but rather than calling a jump ball or a Rockets timeout, referee crew chief Bill Kennedy ruled that Kuminga had committed a foul, awarding Green two free throws with just four seconds left on the clock. Green made both to give the Rockets the lead and Brandin Podziemski had a buzzer-beater attempt blocked by Jabari Smith Jr. to clinch Houston’s win and its spot in the NBA Cup semifinals.
“The defender makes contact with the neck and shoulder area, warranting a personal foul to be called,” Kennedy told a pool reporter after the game in explaining the call on Kuminga.
Kerr, who referred to the foul call as one an “elementary school referee” would have made, argued that the game’s officials had allowed plenty of physical play to that point and that the foul called on Kuminga was hardly the only contact that occurred during the fight for the rebound off Curry’s miss.
“I’ve never seen a loose ball foul on a jump ball situation, 80 feet from the basket with the game on the line,” Kerr said. “I’ve never seen that. I think I saw it in college one time 30 years ago. Never seen it in the NBA. That is, I mean, unconscionable.
“I don’t even understand what just happened. Loose ball, diving on the floor, 80 feet from the basket, and you’re going to give a guy two free throws to decide the game when people are scrambling for the ball. Just give them a timeout and let the players decide the game. That’s how you officiate. Especially because the game was a complete wrestling match. They didn’t call anything.
“So you’ve established you’re just not going to call anything throughout the game. It’s a physical game. And call a loose ball foul on a jump ball situation with guys diving on the floor? With the game on the line? This is a billion-dollar industry. You got people’s jobs on the line.”
Curry, who was also upset after no foul was called on one of his shot attempts earlier in the fourth quarter (video link), expressed dissatisfaction after the game with both rulings. He admitted that the Warriors, who didn’t score in the final three minutes of the game and were still up by six points with 90 seconds to play, had to take responsibility the loss, but made it clear those officiating decisions didn’t help.
“We can talk about the refs all day, it’s not why we lost,” Curry said. “But there are swings in the game, obviously the last two free throws and that play, it’s a five-point swing.”
Kerr was also critical of the officiating crew after a loss to the Nuggets last Tuesday, screaming at the referees as the game ended and griping about a late-game call during his post-game media session. He wasn’t disciplined by the NBA for those remarks, but seems very likely to face a fine this time around.
Go Rockets!
Rockets looking fast and athletic, sadly the dubs looking old and whiny,
Rockets needed a bail out by the Refs tonight.
Not what I saw. Watched a young very athletic rocket team, exposing a warrior team. Old and slow into turnover after turnover. Excuses are for losers, loser.
I saw the Refs gave the Rockets the win. Don’t forget warriors were without Wiggins and Moody 2 of their younger players.
Warriors had plenty of opportunities. They blew it. Blaming it on a single call at the end of the game is just poor sportsmanship and sour grapes. Are you a poor sport?
Come on lil d even you know that call was a gift for a win. If rockets won the jump ball and made the shot give them the praise.
I wouldn’t have called it but it was a foul, that doesn’t matter though. The Warriors couldn’t close the deal. Sure blame the refs all you want but it was the Warriors who had a 7 point lead with 3:38 left then proceeded to cough the ball up over and over including two shot clock violations. Curry’s ill advised 3 pt attempt didn’t help either. Steph needs some help on offense.
Sure the Warriors didn’t play well but that call was a joke and a half and this leagues refs have been terrible all around this season.
Bingo…Rockets also couldn’t of shot the rock any worse. Incompetent officials is a league wide problem. Was only the last few weeks Warriors shot 57 free throws in regulation. Warriors fans weren’t whinging then. Was that against Houston? Would be ironic.
What you really mean to say is, “FINALLY the Rockets can defeat the Warriors in the playoffs”. It has been at least a decade. The Rockets had lost 15 straight until last night, including 2 this season. After sucking for so long, they eventually got younger. And the Warriors had to gift them turnovers. And still came down to the final seconds. Not exactly a resounding victory.
You’re using lots of words but can you answer the simple question who is going to las vegas?
Nobody cares about the stupid ass in-season tournament
Idk you seem pretty worked up about it lol
Kuminga 8-20
Draymond 4-9
Steph 8-17
Prodziemski 3-9
3 pts 12-38
FT 4-9
Arc89- “ITS THE REFE FAULT”
Lmao. Dumb.
Now that is funny if it was the other way around you would be saying it’s the Refs fault. All I am saying is call both fouls and jump it up. You can’t turn a blind eye to one and not the other.
If it was the other way around Id wonder why Rockets shot 6 for 27 from 3 pointer and how come Van Vleet went 3-13, Green 5-15
1 call doesnt decide a game. Ever.
Crybaby!
The refs in the NBA suck, everyone knows that. Can’t put yourself in position to let one call lose the game.
No sympathy for that guy or his team. Cry more
When the Rocket players are calling for a jump ball why do they call a phantom foul. If you don’t call a foul on the same play Payton on his back being fouled how is it a foul on warrior player?? SMH of course the 2 minute report will say bad call.
Payton isnt a late and close rotation option, he stinks. The last 4 minutes of that game GSW should have run Steph, Buddy, JK, Dray and Looney. GSW used to have “the hamptons 5” closing lineup, but now Kerr is using 2way players in that unit! Kerr needs to go….
The problem is not the call. And trading for Butler isn’t going to help things. It is the Turnovers. 20 of them that led to 30 Rockets points. It has probably cost them 3 or 4 games. If they don’t solve that, it is lottery time…It is a deep draft. Time for a new star.
Kuminga with another terrible night with FT
Whole Warriors roster is terrible at the line. 30th out of 30 teams with 70% from the line. Warriors stans complaining about not getting enough FTA (20th, one per game less than the league average) when they should be worried about getting the whole team (minus Steph and Hield) to an ophthalmologist.
Payton on offense is horrible this year. Anything more than 2 feet from the basket he misses. Notice other teams are leaving him open at the 3 pt line knowing he can’t hit the shot.
Refs could have easily called for Jump Ball, Time Out, or Shot Clock Violation. :(
Kerr is a whiny sally. The Warriors are toast. Get over it, Stevie.
How about admit the Refs gave the Rockets a win when on the same play Payton gets an elbow to the back on the ground. No call. So shouldn’t it have been a jump ball?
Arc this is the NBA. Missed calls will happen all the time. Same thing happened in Milwaukee and Orlando when Portis and Goga had a jump ball which should have been a jump ball and they said Portis got fouled. Incorrect call was made.
Warriors aren’t the only ones who get screwed. Stop spreading the Refs hate Warriors propaganda here. If you want to blame someone, blame the players who cannot make FT’s and yet still lose by one. Even when they get calls, they cannot make FT’s.
Actually the second time those season the Refs called a foul on a jump ball at end of game. My point is how do you miss the obvious foul on Payton but call it on Kuminga. Let the team determine who wins. All game the refs were not calling fouls on either team.
I get it, be consistent is all what any fan wants in any sports. From the moment the game starts until the end of it.
That still shouldn’t defer the Warriors horrible 8th grade FT shooting woes.
The FT and the TO. Don’t run plays with Curry in the last 2 minutes he is either double or triple team in a close game. Use him as a decoy. Rockets were double team curry in the 4 th quarter.
I agree with this. They need another ball handler to create more switches for Curry. He’s getting doubled and tripled team like you mentioned above. TOs and FTs go hand in hand with lack of focus, laziness and no execution. When Warriors won those titles, the TOs were galvanized because they won titles. This team cannot rely on Steph bailing them out. I think they need to acquire another ball handler who can help Steph in the 4th. Who did you have in mind that they can afford and is also realistic? I’m thinking someone like Lonzo would help, expiring deal, and he can play defend and switch and he is a career 36% 3PT shooter. I would do GP2/Melton and a 2nd round pick 2026 from ATL (no protections) for Lonzo. It’s a low cost move for both teams and gets enough value to keep both team’s fanbases high.
Schroder from nets would be the best pick up for the warriors. He does a little of everything and a pest with the ball. Green passing this year been terrible. He does too many fast break turnovers. So getting the ball out of his hands would improve the TO rate.
They want 1 1st round pick for Schroeder that’s the issue I think. I don’t think GSW will meet their demands.
Warriors beat the Rockets in 17 straight games until last night and even then they needed a gift.
Kerr playing his worst players (GP2, Podz, Waters, Spencer) in crunch time in 4Q vs the Rockets best 5 players is why he lost that game.
Steve Kerr is the worst HC in the NBA. Cant develop anyone, obsessed with giving his 9-13 guys the most minutes on the team, horrific in-game rotation changes. Rotations that are cooking get subbed out too early, and rotations that are getting destroyed get left out there for 5 minutes without scoring. This is not a HC who is trying to win games.
I almost think the rumors about the whole league being rigged can best be easily seen via Kerr’s nonsense moves. If you are in a late and close game, you play your best players vs the other teams best players. Kerr putting GP2 and his -14 out there to close is never going to win you games. Kerr using a stopwatch to change his rotations instead of game feel is the most egregious aspect of his horrible coaching “Curry missed his first four but then hit 2 in a row? Its the 6 min mark, time to pull him” is a regular Kerr move, as he replaces Curry with Podz and then GSW doesnt score for 5 minutes.
Draymond Green for player-coach NOW!!!
Just a reminder for those calling him the worse Head coach in the NBA. The guy won you 4 Championships. Calling him such shows that you dont know ball.
There’s so much right with the arguments. The call was right. Kerr is right. Steph is right when he says it shouldn’t have come to that. The one wrong thing in all this is the CONTEXT of the call. Refs can’t call a physical game loosely, and then make that call with 4 seconds left.
Glad the Rockets won, not super proud of the way it happened, but Houston has been on the losing end of similar situations at least twice this year, so consider it a make up call.
Glad to see even Rockets fans saw this. Kerr deserves to lose like this, Steph does not. It was a great game despite Kerr handicapping his own team by playing his worst players 31, 23, 15 and 3 mins that should have gone to his better players, who he benches for no damn reason. Would love to have seen the result of this game if GSW DNP’d Podz, Spencer, GP2 and Waters.
Looney had 7 rebs in 11 minutes, Looney is literally better at basketball than those other 4 guys. Why is Steve doing this? He is corrupt and losing on purpose, if he simply plays his best players the most minutes and let the rotations who are destroying the opps stay in until they are +35 instead of +7, only to sub them out for a rotation he lets stay in for 3+ mins that doesnt score. If Kerr simply played his best players, GSW would never lose. He refuses to do that. He MUST win with a 9-13 guy in the late and close rotation vs the opps best 5 guys. Its insanity. It never works.
Not to doubt you but, its hard to believe people with the letters D A V E in there name so yeah.
Someone doesn’t like it when it happens to them…
Bad calls go both ways and the Warriors have had plenty on their side…
Technology should be doing the refs job… But until then a few more laughable mistakes are gonna happen…
I watched and ALL game the refs were allowing A TON of contact. Both ways. And some of it was borderline flagrant. So calling THAT FOUL that wasn’t close to being as egregious as what was allowed up to that point is comical. Unfortunately Kerr made his complaints and everyone will say he’s whining. But as he said, to make that call, in a one point game, essentially gave Houston a win. I see dives on the floor for loose balls all the time and fouls just aren’t called. I often wonder why and the only justification I always come up with is “loose ball, players diving, how do you choose a fouler so you dont” choose. I officiated for 35 years. In that situation, the foul you call is if a diver dives ON TOP of the scrum. But even then, to call the foul to decide the game…no foul. Officiating 101.
Whatever happened to “strength in numbers”.
Suddenly maybe you are not as deep as everyone said…just played teams that were not peaking or playing well.
Blaming GPII and others is hilarious when TO’s and missed FT’s keep ruining the Warriors projected 67-15 season.
You do they were 3 players down to a team at full strength.
And it evens out more often than not, certain teams will be at a disadvantage when warriors are healthy, right? I mean the bulls beat spurs without wemby…but a few days before that, they lost to orlando without paolo.
Strength in numbers only holds true when the Dubs win. Once they start losing its all Podz, Waters, Kerr and the rest of the teams fault. Even the ball boys are at fault whenever they lose.
– Davey J 2024
Call the Waaaaaaambulance for SteveO. Maybe Kamala will get the call reversed
I mean it’s part of the NBA.
Full stop.
The NBA could have more refs (Tennis has more refs than the NBA – why – b/c accuracy is important).
Basketball foul calling is always super subjective and RARELY even between the teams.
The NBA could try to fix that – have refs in different places and cameras to get it right – but people don’t really want that – they like that the NBA is loose and at times completely random in its foul calling (and at other times driven by keeping certain players on the floor).
If you don’t like it – pick a different sport.
When your team loses b/c of it – well just know that’s the sport you wanted to follow – the NBA.
It’s part of the fun, it’s part of the dumb.
You forgot to mention the NBA is in the business of profit fixing. There is no parity the stars and the big market teams generally get the good end of the stick when it comes to calls. It’s really bad when you have a big star in a big market you better hope it’s not a close game your team is involved in.
This year the league is way too physical and points way down, which is why the ratings are sooo bad!
Fans want to watch flowing hoops not wrestling like the 90’s!
Just maybe, it’s a foul when an arm lands then is draped over someones neck area.
I think a challenge would have been a good idea, and at the very least ice Jalen Green a bit before the free throws. Worst case scenario challenge is not successful, Green makes both free throws, and Warriors have to get ball inbounds and get off a shot. Best case call becomes a jump ball…second best case call becomes Houston time out (which may have been called before foul call and decided during replay that Rockets did call a TO before foul was called)…otherwise maybe after a few minutes of thinking about it, Jalen Green misses one of two free throws and they play an overtime where Air Kuminga dominates.
Kerr conveniently omits the fact that Green should have fouled out of the by the end of the first quarter for mauling Sengun. He doesn’t point out the fact that his star player Curry shot that ball way too soon that allowed that bad call to transpire. Lastly why did he draw up a play for someone other than Curry to shoot that last shot? This is what happens when you are a perennial winner when you don’t get what you want you become a perennial crybaby and entitled snot