Most would think that Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was upset about the travel that wasn’t called on Russell Westbrook, and that he would want the referees called out. But it turns out Kerr is feeling the opposite; he says the NBA’s two-minute reports are unfair and throw the referees under the bus.
“I don’t like the practice,” Kerr said to ESPN. “I appreciate the NBA trying to be transparent, but it’s unfair to the officials. I feel like it throws them under the bus. They have an impossible job. They really do. And there are going to be bad calls both ways, every game. They’re never going to be perfect. They’re doing the best they can. I don’t think there’s any point, personally, in exposing bad calls. It doesn’t serve a purpose to me.”
The controversial play happened in game 1. While the Thunder were up three with about 25 seconds left, Westbrook appeared to slide, drag his foot and call timeout; he should’ve been called for a travel but wasn’t. He went on to score three more points after the timeout and OKC won the game. In a postgame interview Monday night, NBA senior vice president of replay and referee operations Joe Borgia told NBA TV, Westbrook should’ve indeed been called for a travel violation but there was so much going on, it was difficult for the referee to see and call.
While Kerr is right that the referees have an extremely difficult job and pointing out the errors doesn’t change outcome of the game, there is hope that the reports will push and help the refs to make better calls.
