Warriors' Steve Kerr dodges Stephen Curry's foul treatment with James Harden joke
Today at 09:35 PM
It’s no secret that Warriors fans believe Stephen Curry doesn’t get the typical star treatment when it comes to getting foul calls, especially compared to fellow two-time MVP James Harden. But that’s not a theory Steve Kerr wants to confirm.
Ahead of Game 3 between the Warriors and the Houston Rockets, Kerr made a Harden joke when asked about how the referees officiated the Rockets when guarding Curry in this series.
“You don’t think you’re just gonna bait me. Are you James Harden trying to draw a foul right now? I’m not reaching,” Kerr laughed.
Jokes aside, Kerr has been adamant that the officials are doing their best. Earlier this week, he told reporters that referees have “a brutal job” officiating these high-stakes playoff games. And statbook-wise, it’s been pretty even: 32-36 in slight favor of the Rockets.
But Dub Nation is more concerned with the fouls that are not called. On social media, fans have reposted screenshot after screenshot of Houston players holding Curry off the ball. One Warriors fan even edited a supercut of Curry being grabbed by Rockets players without consequence.
But Kerr’s been resistant to publicly complaining about the officiating. Or at least outright complaining. In the same press conference, before making the Harden joke, Kerr gave the media a question to consider.
“The way I’ve seen it in my career is that the best officials, they kind of know what’s coming, they know it’s testy [in] the first game, so you clean it up right away. You call a few things right away, you warn both teams to stop it, and the game settles down,” Kerr started. “That’s the key to me when I look at all these games around the league: Are we handling stuff early? Are we taking care of things early so a basketball game can happen?”
Arguably, the officials in the Warriors-Rockets series have cleaned up the testiness Kerr alluded to in his comments. Especially considering the Jimmy Butler injury. While it’s obvious Amen Thompson didn’t undercut Butler on purpose, the uncontrolled physicality of the game put both teams into a dangerous circumstance.
It’s how Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch put it. This series has been “physicality without a purpose,” so far. We’ll see how they decide to officiate games moving forward.
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