The Golden State Warriors rolled into Minnesota’s Target Center Friday night with sights set on securing a 4-0 series sweep of the Timberwolves. Unfortunately for the Warriors, in a regular season that can’t seem to end quickly enough, things didn’t quite go their way. Instead of a win, they picked up another silly loss to another inferior team — dropping this one 131-130 in overtime.
But, the way the Warriors tell it, Karl-Anthony Towns & Co. benefited from a six-man roster — with the sixth player being NBA referee Marat Kogut.
Late in the game, Kogut made some controversial foul calls that led Golden State’s stars Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant to use their postgame pressers to blister Kogut for what they deemed to be errant and emotions-based officiating.
Steph Curry: ” … whatever kind of agenda he had coming in … “
Stephen Curry rarely, if ever, appears to seethe with anger. But in his postgame comments, Curry accused referee Marat Kogut of not officiating the game being played, but basing foul calls off his own emotions:
… not officiating the game itself, and letting emotions get in the way, or whatever kind of agenda he had coming in.
But The Mercury News‘ Mark Medina asking Curry if the officials offered any explanations for some of their calls is what really caused steam to erupt from Curry’s ears. Looking directly into the camera, the three-time NBA champion said:
The fact that Draymond got a tech for saying, ‘Oh, we can’t talk to y’all tonight?’ is kind of embarrassing in terms of, you’re supposed to have that communication. Nobody [was] being demonstrative, or disrespectful in any sense.
Curry is right to be furious. Kogut’s whistle-happy approach put to waste a game-high 37-point performance which included 11 three-pointers.
Kevin Durant: Marat “was the best player on the floor tonight”
All-Star forward Kevin Durant put up a double-double in the one-point loss, with 23 points and 12 rebounds. His main beef with the outcome of the game comes down to the foul called against him which sent Towns to the free-throw line in the final second of overtime, thereby, giving the Timberwolves the win. Durant thought it was a bad call, and that the game should have gone into a second overtime.
With a gleam of sarcastic glee in his eyes, Durant said:
Marat, is his name? He was the best player on the floor tonight. … 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.
The NBA’s forthcoming “Last Two Minute Report” should add clarity to the calls made by Marat Kogut last night. Even if the league finds fault with Kogut’s officiating, Curry and Durant are likely to be slapped with hefty fines anyway. But for Curry to speak directly into the camera the way he did, the No. 3 three-point shooter in league history obviously knew what he was doing and believed calling out Kogut’s dubious, whistle-happy foul calls was worth whatever fine the NBA may deem necessary.
Obviously, Curry and Durant believed the issues with Kogut’s officiating were egregious enough that they were willing to publicly criticize Kogut, even if doing so results in a hit to their wallets. Lucky for them, both are multimillionaires who can afford it.
