Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was ejected in Wednesday night’s 129-107 road loss to the Portland Trail Blazers after arguing with officals after a foul called on the Warriors’ Draymond Green was changed to a flagrant foul.
Portland led 110-103 before Green was called for a flagrant foul on the Blazers’ Zach Collins with 3:54 left. Kerr reacted angrily, throwing his clipboard to the court and yelling at the officials before he was ejected. Referee Ken Mauer called Kerr for a technical foul immediately, which only angered Kerr more. He then threw out his right arm and fumed some more, which led to his ejection by Mauer.
Warriors star Kevin Durant held Kerr back after the ejection, and Green was whistled for a technical foul of his own, too, during the sequence.
After the game, Kerr told reporters he thought Green’s foul on Collins was “a good, hard foul.”
“I was just shocked that was called a flagrant foul. I’m not sure how it was determined. I don’t know if it’s determined in New York or if it’s the officials on the floor,” Kerr said, per Mark Medina of The Mercury News. “That was head scratching that could be called a flagrant foul. The guy is going in for a dunk, you have to make sure he doesn’t dunk it. I told Kenny that I beg to differ.”
Steve Kerr on his ejection, spiking the clipboard and not exactly getting an explanation from Ken Mauer since he was yelling pic.twitter.com/6nMx8pEsJQ
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) February 14, 2019
Portland’s Damian Lillard made the three technical shots and Collins made his free throws to give Portland a 115-103 lead. Jake Layman then added a 3-pointer to all but seal the win. The Warriors finished with just 12 points in the final quarter.
Green, however, praised Kerr for standing up for him: ”That was amazing, he was great. I enjoyed that.”
Draymond on Kerr’s ejection and his Flagrant 1 pic.twitter.com/2OjOL9yk8h
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) February 14, 2019
Kerr said he is awaiting further word from the league on the changed call. ”We’ll obviously get an explanation from the league, but I just thought it was a good, hard foul,” Kerr said. ”I guess I was wrong.”
Green said after the game he was victim of “the Draymond rule,” which he says means he gets officiated a certain way in games.
“I knew they would look at it because they always look at fouls with me,” Green said, per The Mercury News. “But whatever.”
“I’ve been officiated a certain way for years. It’s noting new to me. It is what it is. I don’t really care.”
Green has 12 technical fouls this season, and another four will lead to an NBA-imposed one-game suspension. Teammate Stephen Curry said the changed call “was a horrible call” and thought “nothing was excessive” regarding Green’s foul on Collins.
Golden State played shorthanded against Portland, resting DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston for various reasons. Kerr said before the game that Cousins and Livingston got the night off because of the back-to-back games, and Iguodala was additionally a ”little banged up.”
The game first got testy midway through the quarter when Durant pushed Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic after the two appeared to exchange words, but the officials quickly diffused the situation.
In the fourth quarter, Collins and Klay Thompson exchanged words, and the frustration spilled over to players from both sides. The two players were given offsetting technical fouls with 7:32 left in the game.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
