Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr‘s criticism of the officiating crew following his team’s loss to the Denver Nuggets earned the ire of retired player-turned-analyst Kendrick Perkins. The four-time NBA title-winning coach was upset about the Nuggets being awarded 32 free throws, with reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic shooting 18. Kerr said,
“I have a problem with the way we are legislating defense out of the game. That’s what we’re doing in the NBA. The way we’re teaching officials, we’re just enabling players to BS their way to the foul line. If I were a fan, I wouldn’t have wanted to watch the second half of that game.”
Kerr claimed as a fan of the league he was “disgusted” by the second half between the Warriors and Nuggets.
However, Kerr’s comments didn’t sit well with Perkins as he slammed the Warriors coach for his comments.
“[Kerr’s comments] have been making my damn skin crawl.”
Perkins claimed the Warriors head coach shouldn’t have cowardly refrained from using Jokic’s name when making his point about “BS” foul calls. The former Boston Celtics star claimed Kerr had no issues with the referees when the Warriors’ players were being favoured and winning championships. He then attacked the Warriors’ two biggest stars, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, saying:
“Do you really want to go old school hand-checking? Stopping progress? Holding up Steph Curry, getting physical with Klay Thompson.”
Perkins added that Kerr was trying to divert attention from Curry and Thompson’s poor performance. Curry finished with 18 points on 7-for-21 shooting, while Thompson scored nine points and shot 3-for-12.
Analyst Shannon Sharpe added to Perkins’ point with an interesting observation. He claimed Jokic got to the free-throw line because he attacked the Warriors in the paint. Only two of the Nuggets superstar’s 12 shots were beyond the arc. He had a below-par night shooting the ball, going 4-for-12. However, he was a perfect 18-18 from the free-throw line.
On the flip side, 23 of Curry and Thompson’s combined 33 field goal attempts were three-pointers. They converted only six of 23 attempts. The numbers back Perkins and Sharpe’s points.
If talked about this season overall till now, Kerr’s team has got more free throws per game compared to the Nuggets. The San Fransico side is the 8th-ranked side with the most free throw attempts this season with 23.8 FTA. On the other side, the Nuggets are the 25th-ranked side with 20.7 FTA this season. Also, the Nuggets are the 2nd ranked team to concede the most free throws per game after the Utah Jazz with 20.45 per game attempts against them.
So it is likely that Kerr was expecting something else, but on the court, the Nuggets came as a more disciplined side, which was not expected from the 4x Championship-winning coach.
First Take crew not a Steve Kerr fan
Steve Kerr and the First Take crew haven’t been on the friendliest terms lately. It started when ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith suggested Curry isn’t held to the same standards as LeBron James. In the aftermath of Draymond Green choking Rudy Gobert, Smith claimed James’ leadership would have been questioned had a teammate of his acted in the way the Warriors forward did. He said:
“If this were a teammate of LeBron James, we would be asking, ‘LeBron, what you gonna do about it?’” he stated. “We would have been pointing to his leadership.”
Kerr responded to Smith’s remark by indirectly attacking the analyst. He said:
“For anybody to question Steph Curry’s leadership, it’s actually kind of sickening to me. And I saw some of it yesterday. It was disgusting.”
The Warriors head coach also hinted that analysts often make remarks only to make headlines. Smith snapped back at Kerr and said:
“Steve Kerr didn’t mention me by name. I’ll mention Steve Kerr by name. I’m disgusted with him [Steve Kerr].”
Kerr and the First Take crew aren’t seeing eye-to-eye lately. However, the back-and-forth between them is certainly enjoyable content for the fans.
