The NBA announced Friday that Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr and two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry will be fined $25,000 apiece for their roles in separate incidents involving league referees in Thursday’s Game 6 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Curry, who fouled out for the first time since December 2013 and was ejected for the first time in his career, was fined for hitting a fan with his mouth guard. Kerr was fined for later publicly criticizing the referees for calling what he deemed to be “ticky tack” fouls.
Game 6 was a frustrating outing for Curry and Co., as the Warriors – once up 3-1 in the series – again failed to close out the NBA Finals, which continue Sunday with Game 7 in Oakland. Curry was called for a reach-in on LeBron James to pick up his sixth foul with 4 minutes 22 seconds left.
In a fit of frustration, one later approved by Kerr, Curry tossed his mouth guard, earning him a technical foul and an ejection. The mouthpiece connected with a Cavaliers fan sitting court side – later reported to be Andrew Forbes, son of Cleveland minority owner Nate Forbes – sending NBA Twitter into a frenzy and the reigning MVP to the locker room. Curry said in his postgame interview that he’s thrown his mouthpiece before, claiming that he normally aims and connects with the scorer’s table. The reigning MVP told reporters he apologized to the fan for the errant throw.
“I definitely did not mean to throw it at a fan, but it happened,” he said. “I went over and apologized to him, because I was obviously not where I was trying to take my frustration out. But the last two fouls I had, I didn’t think I fouled either Kyrie (Irving) or LeBron.”
Forbes later spoke with ESPN, telling Tom Haberstroh the situation was water under the bridge and that Curry did indeed apologize after the incident.
“It’s all good,” Andrew Forbes told ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh. “It just hit me, and I was like, ‘Who? What?’ I was just cheering, being a fan. I don’t even know where he was throwing it. … He was good about it.”
Following the game, Kerr earned his fine when he added to Curry’s assessment of the final fouls. He told members of the media he believed half the calls against Curry to be erroneous, citing his star player’s MVP status multiple times. Kerr also called out referee Jason Phillips for erring on the final call against Curry, claiming James flopped.
“He had every right to be upset,” Kerr said. “He’s the MVP of the league, he gets six fouls called on him, three of them were absolutely ridiculous. He steals the ball from Kyrie (Irving) clean, at one point, LeBron flops on the last one. Jason Phillips falls for that for a flop. It’s the MVP of the league and we’re talking about these touch fouls in the NBA Finals.”