Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was irate with the way his team performed in their 119-104 loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday night. The three-time champion coach stressed about the Warriors' fouling issues and made it clear he wants changes in terms of how they play undisciplined defense.
Kerr even issued a warning to the entire squad, saying he could move away from deploying his usual rotation if a player commits unnecessary reach in fouls during a game.
Via Anthony Slater of The Athletic:
As pissed as Steve Kerr's been after the Warriors' seven losses. On the fouling: "Maybe it means if a guy reaches he comes out. Forget the rotation. Just take a few games where you reach, you come out and we have a bunch of guys filing in and out of the game."
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 22, 2021
In one of the weirdest officiating games of the season, the Warriors committed 26 fouls on the evening. The Knicks, meanwhile, had 29 fouls themselves, combining for 55 whistles on fouls throughout 48 minutes of basketball. In fact, at the start of the fourth quarter, the refs called four fouls on the Dubs in less than 20 seconds.
Kerr certainly has every reason to be pissed with the officials, especially after they mistakenly issued Draymond Green's second technical foul near the end of the first half, which tossed the Warriors forward out of the game. And despite the trigger-happy whistle from Ben Taylor and crew, Kerr didn't slam the officiating at all during the game. Instead, he went on a tirade about how they need to stop committing these ticky-tack reach-ins on defense that puts pressure on the refs to call silly fouls.
Kerr certainly has his assessment on point. The Dubs currently lead the league in total fouls through the early goings of the 2020-21 season. In 15 games, Golden State has committed 356 fouls, averaging 23.7 per contest, which ranks no. 2 in the entire league.
The Warriors have prided themselves on defense and believe this could be their recipe of success this season. However, they need to stay disciplined on that end of the floor if they want to boast a top-5 defense by the end of the year.
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