04/24/24
March 30, 2019
Steph Curry Taunts Refs, Then Dodgy Call Gives Warriors a Loss: Steph Curry sank an epic three with a half-second remaining to tie the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves in overtime at 130. But it didn't go to double overtime. Curry taunted referee Mark Kogut repeatedly after making the shot, even needing to be separated by a teammate. On Minnesota's desperate in-bound pass, another referee made a questionable foul call, giving the T-Wolves free throws that won the game 131-130.
posted by rcade to basketball at 07:37 PM - 6 comments
The self-inflicted misery scale is in the process of being re-calibrated. Here are the current standings:
3. English language daytime television drama
2. Spanish language daytime television drama
1. 2018-19 Golden State Warriors
posted by beaverboard at 07:33 AM on March 31, 2019
They can screw you
I really try hard not to do this, but my strike zone has been known to shrink or expand, depending upon the situation. In my case it's never the players, only the coaches. I tune out the parents.
posted by Howard_T at 09:51 AM on March 31, 2019
Curry did enough to get a technical after tying the game. I know most refs wouldn't call one at that moment for fear of what the league office would do to them, but his actions were ridiculous. I think I would enjoy a Warriors defeat this post-season.
If the subsequent call was motivated by animus, the ref would've done better to wait until double-OT for that kind of shenanigan. It was a pretty bad call.
posted by rcade at 11:54 AM on March 31, 2019
Curry did enough to get a technical after tying the game.
Agreed. I understand why the Warriors were upset about the non-shooting foul that preceded that turn of events, but taunting the ref after making a shot is ridiculous. I would have liked to see a technical foul called there, and while I think you're right that most refs wouldn't call it in that situation, I don't actually think it would have been a particularly controversial call.
posted by bender at 03:37 PM on March 31, 2019
Both of the controversial calls were correct -- Durant was fouled before he was shooting (though it was close), and he did grab Towns' jersey on the last play. I don't think Durant expected the ref to have the guts to make that call, but he did.
More importantly, the Warriors shouldn't have blown a 19-point lead to a depleted Wolves squad, made even worse by the fact that Towns was in foul trouble all game. They were also extremely lucky to make it to OT and come from behind in OT, mostly due to Curry just chucking it off-balance from everywhere and making it -- he's a fantastic shooter, of course, but he still had no business making half of those shots.
Basically, the Warriors deserved to lose that game, and blaming the refs is poor form.
posted by TheQatarian at 05:52 PM on March 31, 2019
Not sure why you'd taunt the refs in that situation (or any situation, for that matter). They can screw you that game (maybe was the case here) or in future games.