Warriors Furious with Refs After 2 'Mind-Boggling' Calls in Game's Final 5 Seconds
You know “stuff” has hit the fan when DeMarcus Cousins has to play peacekeeper with the refs.
That’s exactly what happened in a wild finish Friday between the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.
The Warriors had a furious rally late in regulation to send the game into overtime before falling 131-130.
In overtime, Golden State was down by nine points with about 90 seconds remaining. The Steph Curry show then broke out as the Warriors’ superstar hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a three-point game with 23 seconds left.
The Warriors then got the ball back down by three with just four seconds remaining. They ran an inbounds play to Curry, who drained his 11th 3-pointer of the night despite contact from defender Taj Gibson.
As Curry ran back to his team’s bench following a Timberwolves timeout, he taunted the ref, pointing at him for not blowing the whistle.
Nine Steph Curry points in the last 93 seconds of overtime, capped by this one, his 11th 3 punctuated with a ref taunt pic.twitter.com/HaWbgY6LnB
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 30, 2019
During the timeout, Curry tried talking to another referee, which prompted Cousins, who had fouled out, to come onto the court and separate Curry from the ref.
Boogie pulling Curry all the way away from the referee ? pic.twitter.com/a5UjiBqatN
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 30, 2019
A half-second was left on the clock and the Timberwolves had one more chance to end the game, and they did that — with help from the officials.
A very questionable foul call on Kevin Durant during the inbounds play sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the line and essentially ended the game.
With 0.5 seconds left in a tie game, KD is called for a foul that sends KAT to the line to win the game. Wow. pic.twitter.com/tpRub3Bttb
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 30, 2019
It’s arguable that there was less contact on that play than there was on the Curry 3-pointer from the corner. But the Warriors ended up on the wrong end of both calls and dropped to 0-5 in overtime games this season.
After the game, Curry sarcastically called referee Mark Kogut the “MVP of the night.”
When asked which of the questionable calls was worse, Curry responded, “You’d have to ask the MVP of the night, Mark Kogut.”
Coach Steve Kerr called the officiating “mind-boggling.”
Kerr on the late KD foul call: “You mean when the lob was going 10 feet over the rim? Never seen it.”
Kerr on the late waved off KD and 1: “That’s a 4-point play. Mind-boggling.” pic.twitter.com/3CeHi8NN75— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 30, 2019
Curry finished with 37 points, 33 of which came from the 3-point line, as the Warriors dropped into a first-place tie with the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference.
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