Curry, Kerr frustrated by missed goaltending call in Warriors-Nuggets

Curry, Kerr frustrated by missed goaltending call in Warriors-Nuggets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Steph Curry finished with 23 points in the Warriors’ 108-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night at Ball Arena, and there’s an argument to be made that he should have finished with 25.

With 8:31 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Warriors trailing by two points, Curry cut back door and Chris Paul hit him with a perfect bounce pass.

As Curry went for the layup, Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon rotated over and blocked the potential game-tying shot.

But Curry and Warriors coach Steve Kerr were livid, believing goaltending should have been called on Gordon. Replays show the ball clearly hitting the backboard before Gordon sent the shot away.

“It was definitely goaltending,” Curry told reporters after the loss. “They missed it. Keep playing.”

Kerr understands how tough the call is for officials to make in real-time and acknowledged that missed calls of this nature happen several times each year.

“The non-goaltend call, it hurts, but I’m used to it,” Kerr told reporters. “I mean, honestly, it’s a difficult call to make. It happens, bang, bang and it seems like, last year, four or five of those, it’s going to happen this year too. So it’s part of it but there are plenty of calls both ways. That’s the way it goes.”

The Warriors (6-3) still had a chance to beat the Nuggets (8-1) in the final minutes, but Curry missed a potential game-tying floater in the final seconds and Klay Thompson wasn’t able to gather the ball for a potential game-tying 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.

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