Steve Kerr’s Golden State Warriors possess a 2-1 lead over the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference’s first round, but the veteran head coach isn’t exactly happy about how the series has been officiated. The former Chicago Bull stressed that teams will often foul out of instinct when they can’t contain their opponent, knowing the officials won’t see all of them.
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Of course, Kerr was talking about his superstar guard, Stephen Curry, who he believes has suffered from several no-calls from officials throughout the matchup. Tari Eason’s mother took exception to Kerr’s apparent jab at the young Rockets, who have made a name for themselves by being a physical defensive squad.
The Rockets forward’s mom mocked Kerr for his words, knowing the Warriors have one of the NBA’s most physical – and at times, dirty – players in Draymond Green. The former Defensive Player of the Year has been reprimanded on several occasions for his antics, so Teroya Eason saw the clear irony in Kerr’s complaints.
“Now, Steve, you employ someone who does at least one full Nelson a game. If you don’t go fly a damn kite!!!” she quoted his press conference response on X. After years of getting away with Draymond’s antics mostly unscathed, Tari’s mother couldn’t help but state the obvious.
This interaction just adds more fuel to an already explosive fire between these two teams. Still just three games into the series, the Rockets and Warriors have been physical with their fouls from the jump. The two franchises’ fiery aggressiveness has already led to a matchup-defining injury, as well.
Physical play led to Jimmy Butler’s unfortunate injury
Following a playoff masterclass from Jimmy Butler with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, it seemed the Warriors may be able to take strong control of this series before ever heading home to Golden State. However, Butler was knocked out just seven minutes into Game 2 with a hip contusion after a failed box out from Draymond Green sent Amen Thompson into Butler.
There was hope that Butler would return for Game 3, but the 35-year-old clearly wasn’t ready to come back just yet. It didn’t matter for the Dubs, though, as they used the rising tensions from the injury to their advantage. Losing Butler only sparked more of a fire inside these Warriors, leading to a convincing win on Saturday.
If and when Butler returns, tensions aren’t expected to lower between these two vastly different squads. Considering this is the first postseason appearance for the majority of Houston’s roster, they’ll want to squeeze everything they can out of the experience, even if that means forcing the Warriors into uncomfortable positions.
