OAKLAND, Calif. —
Steve Kerr had seen enough.
The
Warriors coach was ejected nine seconds into the third quarter of Monday night’s 117-109 preseason loss to the Phoenix Suns after an illegal screen call against Stephen Curry pushed him past his breaking point.
“He called an illegal screen,” Kerr said, referring to referee Ben Taylor. “There were a lot of those tonight, and I was frustrated. I was in the wrong, obviously, so I got what I deserved.
Kerr also admitted he knew what he was doing when he walked almost all the way across the court from Golden State’s bench — where, coincidentally, owner Joe Lacob and General Manager Bob Myers were sitting — to have a discussion about the call with Taylor.
“Yes,” he said, when asked if he was trying to get ejected. “I was trying to make a point. I was trying to back up my guys. We had all these offensive fouls, one after another, and I finally had enough.”
The moment, not surprisingly, drew plenty of reaction on social media, both because it happened to Kerr and because it happened in a preseason game.
Kerr was also caught on NBC Sports Bay Area’s television feed saying, “I don’t want to be here, anyway,” in the wake of the ejection, before he marched back to Golden State’s locker room to a standing ovation.
After the game, Kerr walked into the interview room inside Oracle Arena with team PR man Raymond Ridder waving his arm, pretending to cool him off. He was then asked a couple of questions about his thoughts in the moment. Naturally, Kerr was ready. After all, he had the entire second half to prepare for any inquiries.
Asked if he wanted to be here, Kerr smiled and said, “No comment.” Then asked where he wanted to be when he got ejected, Kerr deadpanned, “Back in the locker room.
“We had a good postgame spread,” he added. “It’s usually out there by the late third quarter, so I wanted to be the first one to the buffet.”
He then was asked if he remembered anyone ever getting tossed in the preseason. After pausing to think about it, he said, “No.” Then he smiled and asked, “Should I be proud?”
“I cannot recall anybody being ejected from a preseason game. I’m trying to distinguish myself.”
The moment was slightly reminiscent of a Kerr ejection from a game in Sacramento in February of 2017, a regular season affair that saw him storm onto the court after Draymond Green was called for a technical foul. After Kerr got tossed, he lost it, launching into a verbal tirade that cost him a $25,000 fine from the league office “for verbal abuse of game officials and failing to leave the court in a timely manner after his ejection.”
In that instance, however, Kerr needed to be physically restrained by assistant coach Mike Brown. He later revealed that his mother called and told him that he couldn’t let another moment like that happen.
This time, Kerr simply waved his hand at the referees and walked off. Still, that didn’t stop social media from having a field day with the incident.