MINNEAPOLIS _ The Warriors lost their fourth game in the last 11 days _ whatever for most NBA teams but a cataclysmic slump for this usually atomic regular season team _ then, in a frustrated postgame locker room in Minneapolis, they conducted one of the more interesting postgame media sessions of the year.
What became clear in the hour following the 103-102 loss to the Timberwolves: the Warriors were displeased with the refereeing. Steve Kerr spoke first and set the tone.
"(Andrew) Wiggins didn't get fouled," Kerr said. "We just looked at the replay. Our guys went vertical."
The Warriors started sluggish, falling down by 17, but zipped into gear midway through the second quarter, climbing all the way back to finally take the lead on a Stephen Curry floater with 19 seconds left. They needed a defensive stop to take full control.
Following a timeout, Wiggins drove and rose for a go-ahead jumper and missed. But a whistle came. The refs called a foul, which led to the two made free throws and a one-point Timberwolves lead.
The Warriors had one final shot. But a jagged possession led to a missed Curry jumper with five seconds left. The rebound fell into Brandon Rush's hands with three seconds left. Klay Thompson reached in for a foul with two seconds left to extend the game. It didn't get called.
"Klay's grabbing him and I don't know why there's not a foul called," Kerr said. "He's grabbing them with both arms."
The clock ticked down to 0.7 seconds left. The referees, after review, ruled a jumpball that was tapped into no-man's land and the loss _ pulling the Spurs within 1.5 games of Golden State for the West's top seed _ was sealed.
About 25 minutes after the final buzzer, doors of the locker room opened to reporters. About 10 minutes before, Kerr had revealed to reporters in an adjacent room that he would rest Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala in San Antonio the next night _ a bold decision considering the seeding implications and the showcase stage (ABC Saturday night).
It was something, Kerr said, that he'd planned since the previous morning after talking it over with the training staff. He certainly coached like it, playing Curry 35 minutes, Thompson 36, Green 38 and Iguodala 32 _ all exceeding their seasonal averages. And the foursome played with some of their best energy in weeks, chasing down the young Wolves in a frantic, well-played fourth quarter.
That all seemed to add to the sting of the last-second, controversial loss. When the locker room opened, most guys remained in their jerseys, still grumbling about what had just transpired. None of the main figures were dressed or prepared to talk.
This season, because of the constant flood of media surrounding this team, the four All-Stars, once dressed, are brought into separate rooms for their press conferences. But Iguodala often does his in the locker room. So he was the first available Warrior player and, when asked about sitting in San Antonio on Saturday night, he acted like it was the first he'd heard of the news.
"We taking tomorrow off? Nope, no clue," Iguodala said, before delivering what seemed to be a racially-charged comment that immediately went viral online: "I do what master say."
Iguodala later told ESPN that it wasn't meant to be a shot at Kerr and was just an inside joke. Later, some of his teammates were laughing about the comment.
But it also seemed to throw into question when exactly the resting players learned they'd sit Saturday's crucial game in San Antonio and what they felt about it. Kerr made it sound like they'd learned that morning. Iguodala acted like he still didn't know.
Then Curry _ the second of the main guys to speak in the adjacent room, about 40 minutes after the buzzer _ said they were informed in the locker room postgame, right after the final buzzer but before Iguodala spoke. Curry and Thompson said they were fine with the move.
"He made that decision and even if we try to suit up tomorrow he's not going to play us," Curry said. "It is what it is."
Then Draymond Green arrived, the last of the available All-Stars, and added another dash of postgame headline-making into the fray. First off, how tough was the loss?
"Did we lose it?" Green retorted. "No, I'm asking you, did we lose it?"
Green, quite clearly, was referring to the officiating. The team was infuriated all night about the lack of calls for Steph Curry, who attacked the rim throughout but didn't take a free throw until late in the third quarter. Iguodala was peeved after he dunked on Shabazz Muhammed, but wasn't given the and-1 after he seemed to be bumped.
When asked if there was a particular call that stood out to Green, he mentioned a third quarter technical, when the referees whistled him for some after-the-whistle contact on Karl-Anthony Towns.
"How I get a technical for trying to stop continuation?" Green said. "I don't know. I guess I got to play by different rules than the rest of the NBA. That one really sticks with me. What's that my 11th tech? Thirteen? Damn. How many do I really got is the question? I don't know. Different set of rules."
Green was then asked about the crucial late foul on Wiggins.
"I was right there," Green said. "I went vertical. I thought about taking a fine tonight. I really did. I truly thought about taking a fine tonight. But I'm not wasting my $25,000."
Then he looked around, realizing how long after the game he was talking to reporters.
"You tell these people how late I am getting to media?" Green was informed it had been about 45 minutes. "That's a long time. I contemplated for a long time whether I was just going to give the 25-(thousand) up and wash my hands with it. I'm going to go buy myself a nice watch tonight with that $25,000 I thought about spending tonight. I'm going to post it on Twitter. Not Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat. I'm going to go buy myself a nice gift for the discipline I showed tonight."
That is, if the NBA doesn't decide to fine him anyway for the comments made at the end of one of the more noteworthy postgame scenes of the season.
