Warriors’ Steve Kerr Shocked By Late Foul In 91-90 Loss In NBA Cup Quarterfinal: ‘I’m P— Off!’

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was furious Wednesday night after a loose ball foul cost his team in a 91-90 defeat to the Houston Rockets. The Warriors could have advanced to the NBA Cup Semifinal with a victory.

“I’m pissed off,” Kerr said told reporters after the game. “I wanted to go to Las Vegas. We wanted to win this Cup, and we aren’t going because of a loose ball foul, 80 feet from the basket with the game on the line. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, and that was ridiculous.”

The play occurred at the very end of the fourth quarter, as two separate scrambles for possession eventually culminated in heavy contact between Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga and Rockets guard Jalen Green. Referees called a foul on Kuminga, who was reaching to try and force a jump ball. Green hit both free throws to put his team in front with 3.5 seconds remaining.

Losing a regular season matchup in such fashion likely would have been frustrating enough for Kerr, but implications tied to the NBA Cup apparently compounded those feelings. The league’s second annual in-season tournament features lucrative incentives, including more than $500,000 each to players on the team that wins the tournament final. Instead, Golden State players have to settle for roughly $50,000 each for losing their quarterfinal game.

Warriors star Steph Curry, the centerpiece of a rebuilding team, was more critical of himself than the officiating crew after the game. He pointed out he had several opportunities to put the game out of reach and failed to do so. 

“It’s a team trying to figure out who you are,” Curry said, per Sports Illustrated. “What works, what sets we need to be in. Teams selling out on our standard pick-and-roll, which I usually can make plays … If I make that last shot, you might not ask me about the last two possessions. That’s kind of the way the game goes.”

Through 22 games, Golden State is fourth in the Western Conference with a 14-10 record, but the team is merely the leader of a very tight pack that extends all the way to the 12-13 Kings in 12th place. The Rockets, a younger team on the rise, are second in the conference with a 17-8 record, and will face the similarly youthful Thunder in the NBA Cup Semifinal on Saturday, Dec. 14.