Steve Kerr did not leave much room for interpretation over how he felt after his Warriors lost in double overtime to the Lakers on Saturday.

Kerr went out of his way during the postgame press conference to note the 43-16 free-throw disparity in favor of the Lakers.

After a reporter pressed him on the subject, Golden State’s head coach avoided criticizing the referees but made clear that he felt the game’s difference was made in the officiating.

“I might comment on the free throws that they shot, but my mom is here right now and I want to be on my best behavior,” Kerr said. “So I’m not going to comment on their 43 free throws to our 16. I’m not going to comment on Steph [Curry] shooting three free throws in 43 minutes.”

The Warriors held the lead with 5.2 seconds to go in double overtime before LeBron James drew a foul and sunk a pair of free throws to hand the Lakers a 145-144 victory.

As he walked off the court, Curry ripped his jersey in anger.
Steph Curry and the Warriors has little help when it came to fouls and free throws on Saturday night.AP

Later on, he was not so subtle when asked about the free-throw disparity.

“We’ve had this conversation, especially playing against them,” Curry told reporters. “They draw a lot of fouls. Last year they had some crazy free-throw disparity and advantage.Tonight is just one of those where this is not consistent and that’s the most frustrating part. Because you want to be in a place where the players decide the game and it’s either the players decide the game or it’s consistent on both ends of what you’re calling.

“And so not to say, obviously, we shoot a lot of threes. I know that there’s a different style but there’s probably three plays I was involved in where it’s just a clear, bad call in the sense of giving guys  unnecessary free throw attempts and then on the other end, contact or plays that they look the other way for whatever reason.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) shoots against Los Angeles Lakers guards Gabe Vincent (second from left) and Austin Reaves.USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

“So in a single game when you have inconsistency on both sides, that’s the most frustrating thing of all. Doesn’t mean that we’re gonna go to the line 58 times. It just means that there’s a tone of the game and there’s a flow of the game that we can adapt to and adjust to. And it wasn’t like that tonight. So it’s tough.”

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