Stephen Curry Pinpoints Two Crazy Calls, Jimmy Butler Shows Sympathy To Officials After Steve Kerr’s Ejection

Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green address the media after Steve Kerr was ejected from the Warriors game due to an outburst against the Clippers.

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Jan 5, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) reacts against the LA Clippers in the second half at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green addressed the media tonight after Steve Kerr was ejected from the Clippers game in the fourth quarter of a 102-103 loss for the Warriors.

Kerr was tossed out four minutes into the fourth quarter after a series of events led to an outburst from the head coach. It was the late whistle and a non-shooting foul on Stephen Curry, a shooting foul then given to Curry, and a clear goaltend from John Collins missed by the officials that seemed to have caused this outburst.

 

“To be honest, I was gonna do that, but I saw him. That’s why I fouled Kris Dunn because I was watching the coach go crazy, and I was appreciative of that,” said Curry.

“Two crazy calls in a row that you feel like can dictate the momentum of a game. Doesn’t mean a win or a loss; it just dictates the momentum. I love that fired-up Steve for sure. Somebody had to do it tonight,” Curry further added.

The Warriors guard pointed to the officials’ refusal to grant continuation and the no-call on the goaltend as the key factors.

“Usually, refs, if it’s a 50-50 call either way and you let it go towards the basket, then you just play on and whatever. I’ve never seen where it’s a delayed call. Oh, there was a foul. Oh, no basket.” 

“And then literally the next possession, a clear goaltend, you know, I’ve seen the replay. It’s hard to miss both of those in a momentum-swinging situation like that.”

“Coach did the right thing. We responded the right way. Gave ourselves a chance to win. But on the road, that’s a tough, tough moment,” concluded Curry.

According to ESPN’s Anthony Slater, it was three decisions from officials that piled on to contribute to Kerr’s outburst in the fourth quarter. However, the Warriors forward Jimmy Butler refused to comment on the officiating and rather showed them sympathy in his post-game comments.

“I don’t talk about officiating, so I don’t know,” said Butler in hesitation initially.

“Man, I’m not gonna lie to you. I don’t really pay too much attention to the refs. I say hello. I think they have got a tough job to do, to be able to, you know, tell the difference between continuation, goaltending, and all of that. I just leave the nitty-gritty; I don’t get into the nitty-gritty,” said Butler later.

Draymond Green, the Warriors veteran, also showed support for Kerr during his press conference.

“Yeah, when he was ready to kill me the other day in the huddle,” said Green, jokingly referring to his heated debate with Kerr earlier this season.

“It was rightfully the right reaction,” Green added.“Those were back-to-back plays. That’s five points, you know. It’s tough to make up five points at that point in the game, you know, but our group kept fighting, so that’s what we got to do in that situation.”

“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t come out with the win,” concluded Green.

While they lost to a potential lottery team by the end of the season, that was also short-handed tonight without James Harden, Green focused on taking the positive lessons from this game.

Meanwhile, Curry and Butler took different approaches, as one was vocal about his criticism and the other steered clear. The Warriors have fallen to 19-18 as a result of this loss. They will now face the Bucks at the Chase Center in their next game on Wednesday.

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Chaitanya Dadhwal is an NBA Analyst and Columnist at Fadeaway World from New Delhi, India. He fell in love with basketball in 2018 after seeing James Harden in his prime. He joined the sports journalism world in 2021, one year before finishing his law school in 2022. He attended Jindal Global Law School in Sonipat, India, where his favorite subject was also Sports Law.He transitioned from law to journalism after realizing his true passion for sports and basketball in particular. Even though his journalism is driven by his desire to understand both sides of an argument and give a neutral perspective, he openly admits he is biased towards the Houston Rockets and Arsenal. But that intersection of in-depth analysis and passion helps him simplify the fine print and complex language for his readers.His goal in life is to open his own sports management agency one day and represent athletes. He wants to ensure he can help bridge the gap in equal opportunity for athletes across various sports and different genders playing the same sport.
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