Steve Kerr didn’t hold back regarding the officiating in the Golden State Warriors game against the Phoenix Suns, including him calling out Draymond Green’s ejection.
The referees tossed Green from the game early in the second quarter of the Warriors’ win. After Green blocked the Suns’ Collin Gillespie on a shot attempt, he ran up the court and shoved Gillespie, resulting in his first technical foul.
The Warriors star followed the call by arguing more with the referees, drawing a second technical and an automatic ejection from the game. Along with Green’s technicals and ejection, his head coach also received a technical foul while arguing the call.
Kerr addressed the situation after his team’s 119-116 victory, claiming the second technical was “weak” on the referees’ part.
"I thought it was weak. He was yelling at the refs, so he definitely deserved one, but then he was walking to the bench, and he yells something and [gets a] second technical," Kerr said in his postgame comments.
Along with questioning the call in the Warriors-Suns game, Kerr mentioned that Dillon Brooks "punched" Steph Curry in the gut in a “premeditated” incident the other night, and the referees didn’t eject Brooks.
"And then two nights later, the refs got upset with some words from Draymond. I totally disagree, and that's why I got my tech, because I was furious that they booted him out just like that, so easily," the Warriors coach explained.
Kerr continued to call out Brooks when answering a follow-up, reminding everyone that he "broke Gary Payton Jr's elbow with one of the dirtiest plays" he'd ever seen.
"It's not like there's not a track record there. They look at it. I don't know what the point of replay is, if you're not gonna kick a guy out for literally punching somebody," he said.
"Apparently, you are now allowed- this is my take, you are now allowed to premeditate a punch of a shooter who's left defenseless. You can now take a swing at him and know you're just gonna get a flagrant 1, so I don't know, maybe we'll do that," Ker suggested.
His remarks about Brooks arrive not long after Brooks got chippy with LeBron James in a Suns loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. However, LeBron downplayed the various fouls and interactions in his encounters with Brooks, suggesting they were part of the game.
For Green, that marks his 21st ejection from a game in his NBA career, but only his first of this season. According to his teammate Curry, Green's ejection actually inspired the Warriors to wake up and play better in the second half en route to snapping a three-game losing streak.
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