Green, Curry, Durant fined for criticizing officials
OAKLAND, Calif. — Golden State Warriors stars Draymond Green, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant have all been fined for comments made following Friday night’s overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the NBA announced Tuesday.
Green was fined $35,000 for “making statements on social media which impugned the integrity of NBA officiating.” Curry was fined $25,000 “for his actions and public statements impugning the integrity of NBA officiating,” and Durant was fined $15,000 for “public criticism of the officiating.”
Several calls down the stretch in last Friday’s game drew the ire of Warriors players and coaches, but what seemed to irritate Warriors coach Steve Kerr and his players most came with 4.4 seconds left in overtime and the Warriors trailing 130-127.
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Durant caught an inbounds pass and turned quickly to shoot a 3 to tie the game. Referee Marat Kogut whistled for a foul, emphatically saying that the foul by Timberwolves swingman Keita Bates-Diop came before Durant was in the act of shooting.
“Did I think it was before the shot?” Kerr said after the game. “I just watched the replay. He caught and he shot — it’s a four-point play. I mean, I don’t know what else to say. Kind of mind-boggling. You catch and you go up for a shot, and you get fouled in any league — any league — that’s a good bucket and a free throw. Any league, not just the NBA.”
Curry ended up hitting a difficult 3-pointer in the corner to tie the game and happily pointed his finger at Kogut’s face on his way back to the Warriors bench. On the ensuing possession, with just 0.5 seconds remaining in overtime, Timberwolves swingman Anthony Tolliver threw an inbounds pass over the head of teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, but official Leon Wood whistled Durant for a foul. The Warriors bench was incredulous. After the call, Curry walked halfway down the visitors tunnel before returning to see Towns make the first free throw and miss the second one as the clock expired.
Curry was asked afterward if his team’s reaction after he made the shot that tied the game had any impact on Wood’s whistle on the Durant foul.
“If that’s the case, that’s indicative of the entire game,” Curry said. “And not officiating the game itself and letting emotions get in the way or whatever kind of agenda you had coming in.
“At the end of the day it’s one of 82, we’re not going to get overblown that much. We should have been way ahead in the second half by playing better. But again, let the play decide, and that’s just unfortunate.”
When asked which call he believed to be worse, Curry took a direct shot at Kogut, a comment which drew the league’s attention.
“You’d have to ask the MVP of tonight,” Curry said. “Marat Kogut.”
Durant also called Kogut out by name.
“Marat was his name?” Durant said. “He was the best player on the floor tonight. He made sure that — he’s so good with his whistle that he knew they were gonna foul me, and he called it right before I shot the ball. So he’s one of the greatest refs of all time.”
In Green’s case, what caught the league’s attention were two tweets that came after the loss. The first being the initials TD, which many took as a reference to disgraced former NBA official Tim Donaghy and the second, MK, which many took as a shot at Kogut.
TD
MK
Green has not addressed the tweets since the end of Friday’s game.
In the NBA’s last two-minute report, the league came to the conclusion that calls in question were correct. Kerr declined to comment on the findings in that report prior to Sunday’s win over the Charlotte Hornets, but Curry made his feelings known by bringing an oven mitt with him to the game, in reference to a play with 24.5 seconds left in overtime when Timberwolves swingman Josh Okogie appeared to make contact with the back of Curry’s legs during a shot attempt and was not called for a foul.
The league determined that there was “marginal” ‘hot stove’ contact which did “not affect” Curry’s ability to land.
The Warriors brushed off the non-calls and last-two minute report, but Curry was as frustrated after Friday’s game as he has been all season.
“It’s just tough when your effort like that gets sabotaged for sure,” Curry said. “I’ve been back there looking at those calls over and over and over again and still don’t understand either one of them. KD four-point play which puts pressure on them with 4 seconds left to have to get a bucket. And at the end of the game, nobody wants to see a game end like that. A crazy pass that had no chance of being caught and a soft foul that should never have been called to decide the game like that. Guys out there fighting their ass off to play and compete and win the game by playing basketball, so it’s a tough way to go out.”
The Warriors play the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night