Subscribe
Follow Us
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr won't stand for any excuses, especially not for unwritten rules that have taken part in the league becoming the reason for a scuffle.
“I'm on a one-man crusade to dispel these idiotic NBA rituals,” Steve Kerr said, according to Ron Kroichick of The San Francisco Chronicle after his Golden State Warriors escaped an epic 51-point game outing from LeBron James on their way to a 124-114 Game 1 win in overtime.
Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson was upset with point guard Shaun Livingston after he put up a mid-range shot in the Warriors' last possession of the game, with the game already determined up by eight points with 2.6 seconds left in the game.
Livingston had taken the shot to avoid a shot-clock violation and was fouled by a Thompson closeout, which was ruled a Flagrant 2 by the referee crew.
“That was some bulls**t,” Thompson said later of Livingston’s shot.
Kerr, who stood in a hallway after his news conference and spoke to three Bay Area reporters, vigorously disagreed.
“If there's a shot-clock differential, you shoot the ball,” he said. “The game is telling you you’re supposed to shoot the ball. And if anybody is offended because you’re playing the game the way the clock and the rules are telling you to play, then I think that’s silly.
“If the shot clock is off, then you run the clock out. If the shot clock is on, you take a shot. I don’t know why there’s any ritual that says you’re supposed to stop playing. We’re going to shoot. We’re not taking a turnover.”
The Warriors had a surprising positive turnover differential, turning the ball over a postseason-low seven times through Game 1. Turning the ball over in that possession would have tied their previous postseason low at eight.
