Steve Kerr calls on the Warriors to quit arguing with the refs

The Golden State Warriors have gotten a little whiny lately, and coach Steve Kerr is ready to see the end of it.

The team has become known for their disagreements with referees, led by the actions of Draymond Green, Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, and yes, Kerr himself. And the coach is ready for the team to put it behind them, and start moving on.

On Monday, Kerr addressed the team’s rough home loss to the Phoenix Suns, and admitted that they needed to cut back on the complaints to the zebras.

“We need to stop looking at the officials,” Kerr said, as reported by Mark Medina of the Mercury News. “We’re complaining too much to the referees and spending too much energy arguing with the refs instead of just playing. I don’t think that helped last night. We’re putting in energy where it shouldn’t be. We need to put in energy where it should be.”

The complaining is certainly visible. It shows up in technical fouls - Green leads the team with 13, while Durant has 10, Cousins has eight (despite only playing 19 games), and Kerr has six.

And yet it goes beyond the technical fouls. Many times the Warriors are compromised on possessions because one player is lagging behind the play, arguing with a ref. Other times a player seems disengaged from the action because they’re still fuming about a call, or continuing a dialogue with one of the officials.

It hasn’t been great. And Kerr, at least, is ready to see it change.