The Golden State Warriors contest on Tuesday night wasn’t close to being decided by an official’s whistle. The Warriors took care of business in front of 19,223 fans at the Spectrum Center, knocking off the Charlotte Hornets 119-101 to win their sixth game in seven tries.
Point guard Steph Curry had a strong night, scoring 21 points and adding 10 assists as Golden State improved to 33-28, good enough for No. 6 in the Western Conference.
NBA News: Steve Kerr wants a change in officiating
Following the game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr sent a message to officials and the league. While he thinks officials aren’t doing anything wrong, Kerr believes the league needs to train officials to call traveling more.
“I don’t understand why we are not teaching our officials to call travel in this league,” Kerr said via ESPN. “They do a great job and work their tails off and communicate well, but I see five or six travels a game that aren’t called.”
Kerr didn’t single out the Hornets for traveling, noting he’s seen the Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers commit the violation repeatedly in recent weeks.
Golden State Warriors coach worried about the integrity of the game
Kerr noted the violation should be easy to spot, as fans in the stands know when it happens. Not enforcing the rule can chip away at the integrity of the game.
“You know it’s a problem when there are like a hundred fans in the stands and every coach on the sideline when I’m watching film and everyone is (signaling for a travel call),” Kerr said. “Everyone is seeing it, so we are clearly not teaching as a league our officials to look at the feet…
“The entire game is based on footwork. We need to enforce traveling violations and we are not doing it and I don’t understand why. … These [officials] are awesome. They do a great job, and they have a million things to watch, but footwork is the entire basis of the game and we need to call traveling. It will be a much better game if we clean it up.”
Kerr is correct. Traveling should be easy to spot and call. Even though it might take away some exciting dunks, it will reward players for trying on defense. That’s something the league needs more of.
The Warriors have a short turnaround on their East Coast trip. On Tuesday night, Golden State will play the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
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