The Warriors took aim at the referees following their 116-109 loss to the Miami Heat on Tuesday, when Jordan Poole was whistled for three carrying violations and Steph Curry had three free throws wiped off the board following a video review.
Curry was definitely upset with the call, as Jimmy Butler made a lot of contact with his shooting hand and Steph didn’t finish his shooting motion cleanly, but the refs said they engaged in a “high five” action which nullified the foul.
Kerr joined 95.7 The Game’s “Damon & Ratto” for his weekly appearance on Wednesday to discuss his team’s 3-5 start and Tuesday’s officiating, suggesting the NBA should overhaul its replay system.
“We’re trying to get things right, but there’s a lot of subjectivity to it, there’s a lot of nuance and there’s a lot of repercussions to it,” Kerr said. “I’ve told you guys before, I’m not a fan of replay. I don’t think it accomplishes what we hope that it does. I would like to see replay go away, other than just buzzer-beaters – did a guy get a shot off at the end of a quarter, end of a game, in time? Just leave it at that.”
Kerr said it’s a matter of limiting the 3-5 minute stoppages that can happen while refs go to the scorer’s table for a review.
“The flow is everything in basketball,” Kerr said. “I think because the flow is compromised and even the integrity of the game is compromised based on the unintended consequences of replay. The one I point to all the time is the famous Ray Allen shot against the Spurs in the Finals. That’s one of the great shots in NBA history. Because of the replay rule, the officials decided to stop the clock just to make sure his feet were behind the line. In doing so, they stopped the Spurs’ 4-on-4 fast break with Tony Parker, the fastest player in the league at the time. … That may have decided the NBA championship.”
“No matter how you slice it, there’s unintended consequences and we’re not gonna get everything right,” Kerr continued. “With that in mind, I’d much rather just have the flow of the beauty of the game and the acceptance that there’s gonna be some mistakes. Let’s face it, there are plenty of mistakes anyway, even with replay, but you don’t get the flow that you want.”
Kerr told reporters after the game that he needed to start checking his inbox on gamedays, as he heard that the league emailed about the increased emphasis for refs calling players for dribbling violations. But after checking his email earlier Wednesday, Kerr didn’t find any further explanation.
“I finally did read the email and there was nothing about carrying violations,” Kerr said. “So I think the whole email thing was just a rumor.”
So was Poole unfairly targeted in Tuesday night’s game?
“I don’t think there’s a lot of rhyme or reason to this stuff,” Kerr said. “It’s really just human judgment.”
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