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OAKLAND – The tension continued to mount. Warrior coach Steve Kerr has expressed almost everyone's thoughts about a meaningless playoff game for the NBA.
"I do not want to be here," Kerr said.
Kerr said these words only a few moments into the second half after storming the court to voice his dissatisfaction with the officials who had called an offensive foul on the Warriors' guard, Stephen Curry. Suns striker, Trevor Ariza, hung him up. After Curry shot a technique, Kerr and Warriors forward Kevin Durant quickly followed suit.
In a few seconds, the official Ben Taylor expelled Kerr. The Warrior coach then said, "Anyway, I do not want to be here," Kerr said before giving up and leaving the field early in the third quarter. He then watched the rest of the Warriors' 117-109 pre-season defeat against the Phoenix Suns Monday at Oracle Arena in the locker room.
"I do not want to be here anyway." pic.twitter.com/j7r8rDBlC4
– Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) October 9, 2018
"We had a good spread after the game," Kerr joked afterwards. "This is generally the case at the end of the third quarter. I wanted to be the first at the buffet.
The comment attracted bursts of laughter, and who could blame him? A post-game gap seemed more appealing than driving a preseason game without two All-Stars (Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala) and two established veterans (Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston). That did not help either that Kerr became irritated by the Warriors' call for offensive fouls, including three on Curry.
"I was trying to make a point and save my guys," Kerr said. "We had all these fouls one after the other. I've finally had enough.
The play that attracted Kerr's anger? After Warriors forward Kevin Durant passed the ball to striker Kevon Looney at the top of the key, Curry cut to the perimeter to lie on Ariza while Durant cut the backdoor. . The Ariza and Phoenix guards, Shaquille Harrison, surrounded Curry with their arms. Yet officials have accused Curry of the offensive foul.
While the Warriors were lagging behind, 61-57, while it was only 11:51 left, Curry immediately protested the call. After being called for a technical problem, Kerr walked to the middle of the call and shared his dissatisfaction. Kerr then shouted to Taylor, "I do not want to be here." Taylor then threw Kerr quickly. Durant quarreled more and mockingly applauded the officials, but he was spared by a technique.
"I like that, we have a good atmosphere about what we do," said Curry, "Obviously, it's never too early to light this fire and see how we'll keep it going all the way. year-round When a blatant call is supposed to go in one direction and it goes in the other, it will react, no matter it's the pre-season , the regular season or the playoffs, it's good for him to have that fire.
Stephen Curry's answer to the call from the back screen. pic.twitter.com/r7p0CkXcrG
– Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) October 9, 2018
Warriors have often had this fire.
They collected 52 techniques and 10 ejections during the 2017-18 season. Green (15) and Durant (14) were the most compiled. Kerr trailed with seven. So, before the NBA All-Star Championship break, Warrior General Manager Bob Myers spoke to the team about the need to "protect" his reputation. As part of league initiatives to improve player relationships, the Warriors also met former NBA official Monty McCutchen and match officials to discuss ways to defuse the tension that has leads to a lot of techniques and ejections in the NBA.
"I was frustrated and I was wrong, obviously," Kerr said of his latest ejection. "I had what I deserved."
The Suns then ran 9-0. Yet the warriors firmly rejected the fact that they were already showing the first signs of their inability to control their anger.
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"Would you have controlled your emotions after seeing what was going on?" Durant asked a reporter.
The reported said no. "Okay, so," Durant replied.
Instead, the warriors saw the benefits in the long run.
"We are all in the same boat, we have to have each other's backs," said Curry, "this is one of our fundamental principles." He has the opportunity to try to influence things with explosions when he needs them and things that he says in the locker room.Anyway, knowing that we are giving everything we have all through the year the coach supports you, he does not pinch his wallet when he has the opportunity, and when he speaks, it means a lot. "
The Warriors insisted they had not had fun with the Kerr explosion. They remained as unhappy with the whistles. But several players had fun watching the replay of Kerr's ejection.
"It was funny, I knew something was going to happen," said Warrior guard Quinn Cook, "I remember seeing this on ESPN and seeing it on Instagram before I came here." It was the first time I saw him in person – it was cool. "
Curry also found it awesome that Kerr shouted that he "did not want to be here." Warrior forward Kevon Looney joked that Kerr was "getting ready for the regular season."
"I feel it. It's the pre-season, "Looney said with a laugh. "Steve has practiced basketball a lot throughout his career. He did not care about this game. "
So, Kerr has delegated his coaching duties in another way against Phoenix. Last season, he allowed his players to shoot morning and play in the recesses. This preseason, he left associate coach Mike Brown to handle the rotations for almost the entire second half. In both cases, the warriors said they felt empowered.
"That's what great coaches do. Great coaches always take a technician or ejection to prove a point to his team, "said Cook. "He is fighting for us and is great on this point. When one is wrong, he is the first to say it. When we're fine, he's the first to say it. He always has our backs. He's great at that. "
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