The Golden State Warriors desperately crave a win on Wednesday night. The reigning NBA champions have their backs against the wall and will head back home to CHASE Center to try and slow the Los Angeles Lakers down.
The Dubs have struggled to keep the Lakers off the free-throw line, and that disparity has been a major talking point throughout the series. However, as much as it might all be due to their style of play, other factors might also be involved.
According to Warriors coach Steve Kerr, the NBA is rewarding Lakers players for flopping, and he went on a full rant to call the league out and urged them to do a better job of keeping the game clean.
Steve Kerr Roasts The NBA Over Lakers’ Players Flopping
“I think, to me, what I’ve learned coaching in FIBA — FIBA has a great rule, there’s a flop rule, and if a referee deems that a player has flopped, they just call a technical foul, and it’s pretty penalizing,” Kerr started. “So, the flopping has basically been eliminated from FIBA. We have the ability to do the same thing in the NBA if we want.”
“I think we should address it because the players are so smart and the entire regular season is about gamesmanship and trying to fool the refs, and this is how it’s been for a while,“ continued the coach. “It’s up to us as a league; do we want to fix this? Because if not, we’ll just get the Chris Paul swipe through at half-court when you’re in the bonus, and for some reason, we’re shooting two free throws at a critical time of a playoff game when nothing has happened, nobody’s gained an advantage.”
“So, my personal plea to the NBA (is) I think we can do better, in terms of cleaning up the flopping. In the meantime, I give the Lakers credit for the plays that they’ve been able to sell,” Steve concluded.
Of course, this might all just be another case of a coach trying to put pressure on the referees ahead of a must-win game, as the Warriors have also gotten away with illegal screens for the most part of his tenure in charge of the team.
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Whatever the case, it’ll be interesting to see the approach and mindset of the reigning champions, as there will be no more room for error or excuses after tonight’s matchup.
