Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr wants some clarity on the refs’ threshold when it comes to wild behavior on the court.
Following Golden State’s 119-116 win over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., Kerr talked about power forward Draymond Green’s ejection from the game after getting two quick technical fouls in the second quarter.
Although Kerr believed Green deserved the first technical foul for shoving Suns guard Collin Gillespie, he felt the second one shouldn’t have been called. Green was slapped with a second tech for continuing to argue with referee Pat Fraher.
“I thought it was weak,” Kerr said after the game, via Anthony Slater of ESPN. “He definitely deserved one. But he’s walking to the bench and yells something and second technical.”
To stress his point, Kerr referenced Suns forward Dillon Brooks’ flagrant foul on Warriors superstar point guard Stephen Curry during a previous game on Friday at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Ariz.
“We just saw a guy on their team literally punch Steph in the stomach the other night, premeditated, punches him in the stomach and no ejection for that. Two nights later, refs got upset with some words from Draymond. I totally disagreed.”
Furthermore, Kerr dug all the way back to 2022, when Brooks injured Warriors guard Gary Payton II in a playoff game.
“How could you not be upset?” Kerr added. “This is a guy who broke Gary [Payton II]’s elbow in the playoffs clotheslining him on one of the dirtiest plays I’ve ever seen. It’s not like there’s not a track record there. It’s right there. They look at it. I don’t know what the point of replay is if you’re not going to kick someone out for literally punching somebody.”
When it comes down to it, Brooks and Green are two players who have an extensive body of work regarding things that shouldn’t be done on the basketball court.
If anything, Green’s early ejection ultimately didn’t matter to the Warriors, as they went on to win without him for the entire second half, thus snapping a three-game losing skid.
Kerr’s rant also adds some spice to the next Warriors–Suns matchup in February in Phoenix.
