{"id":519817,"date":"2026-01-06T08:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/519817\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T08:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:31:13","slug":"curry-warriors-sound-off-on-steve-kerr-ejection-the-right-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/519817\/","title":{"rendered":"Curry, Warriors sound off on Steve Kerr ejection: ‘The right thing’"},"content":{"rendered":"

INGLEWOOD \u2013 Warriors assistant coach Terry Stotts marched up to the postgame podium at Intuit Dome<\/a>, faced a room packed with reporters and various media, and gave an unprompted opening statement on Monday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m up here because I\u2019m saving Steve some money,\u201d Stotts, who coached Portland from 2012-21, said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only reason I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The implication being that Kerr, the longtime head coach who was ejected with 7:57 left in Monday\u2019s 103-102 loss to the Clippers, would have given statements that would have resulted in a fine from the NBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The officials drew Kerr\u2019s ire \u2013 and led to his first ejection since Mar. 28, 2022 \u2013 when they called what appeared to be a clear John Collins goaltend on Gary Payton II\u2019s layup was left a no-call.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) reaches for a loose ball against Los Angeles Clippers guard Kris Dunn (8) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA missed call, clearly, but it is what it is,\u201d Payton II said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That had occurred just a few moments after what could have been a continuation jumper by Curry was called a foul on the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The future Hall of Fame coach went ballistic at head referee Brian Forte\u2019s crew, earning him two technical fouls as he was restrained by assistant coaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kerr eventually made the walk across the court and into the locker room while Stotts took over. Curry appreciated his coach\u2019s fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach did the right thing, and we responded the right way, and gave ourselves a chance to win. But on the road, that\u2019s a tough, tough moment,\u201d Curry said, later adding. \u201dWatching coach go crazy, I was appreciative of that because two crazy calls in a row that you feel like can dictate the momentum of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forte later told pool reporter<\/a> Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints that Payton II\u2019s layup \u201cshould have been ruled a goaltending violation,\u201d but believed that Kerr\u2019s ejection was also warranted.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first technical foul, Coach Kerr aggressively approached the official while shouting profanities,\u201d Forte said. \u201cAfter the first technical was called, he continued shouting profanities while being held back by his assistant coach. And led to the second technical foul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curry said he was ready to blow up at the officials, and Kerr\u2019s theatrics saved him from a possible technical foul or ejection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kerr\u2019s anger did not stun Draymond Green<\/a>, who did not have to go far back to remember the last time his coach\u2019s temper had boiled over like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he was ready to kill me there in the huddle,\u201d Green said, before giving his two cents on what went down in Inglewood. \u201cI think it was the right reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Payton believed the ejection fired up the team, and helped the Warriors outscore the Clippers 38-27.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the Warriors were unable to also overcome Curry piling up four fourth quarter fouls, which led to his first foul out since 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Up until that point, Stotts had leaned on his veterans to lead the team through the tumultuous quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c(I was) just trying to coach the game, and it helps we\u2019ve got a veteran team, and they know what they\u2019re doing out there,\u201d Stotts said. \u201cSteph, before he fouled out, really got us going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curry vowed to not foul out again in his career. When asked whether or not he held Kerr\u2019s blowup against the coach, Curry made his thoughts clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that fired up Steve,\u201d Curry said. \u201cSomebody had to do it tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LosLos Angeles Clippers center Brook Lopez (11) blocks a shot by Golden State Warriors guard De’anthony Melton (8) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD \u2013 Warriors assistant coach Terry Stotts marched up to the postgame podium at Intuit Dome, faced a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,159,160,479,164,4025,4024,155,165,6,161,162,163,66,863,255,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-519817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-golden-state","12":"tag-golden-state-warriors","13":"tag-goldenstate","14":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","15":"tag-inside-sports","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-peninsula","19":"tag-san-francisco","20":"tag-san-francisco-county","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-steve-kerr","23":"tag-warriors","24":"tag-warriors-hq"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115847226852437765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}