SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Kerr upset his mother.
Ann Kerr was mortified by the behavior of her 60-year-old coaching son, for the first time in quite a while.
She didn’t approve of Kerr’s ejection in the fourth quarter of a one-point loss to the Clippers on Monday night, when the Warriors coach was held back from the officials by Gary Payton II, Gui Santos and assistant Terry Stotts.
“All good other than my mom being terribly disappointed in me,” Kerr said of his 91-year-old mom before Golden State’s home game Wednesday against Milwaukee.
“She was at the game, she looked horrified afterwards. She asked me if I was going to hit the referee. I said, ‘Mom, I’ve never hit anybody in my life,’ and she said, ‘it looked like you were going to hit him, why were all of those men holding you back?’ That’s all part of the theatrics. She didn’t understand. I was a little alarmed that she thought I was actually going to hit somebody, that scared me.”
Kerr received back-to-back technical fouls and his fifth career ejection after becoming angry with official John Collins over a missed goaltending call, according to Stotts.
“I’m happy she got on Steve, that’s great,” Draymond Green said.
Two days later, Kerr didn’t want to discuss exactly what set him off, saying, “there’s a reason Terry did media the other night” after the game.
“I was upset about a couple calls,” he added.
Stephen Curry appreciated Kerr’s outburst, even if it disappointed his mom. And Curry has been scolded by his mom plenty of times, too.
“I’ve seen worse for sure, I couldn’t tell you exactly when but I know it’s been worse, but that’s a good mother-son relationship and that she’s watching every game and locked in and cares as much as she does to call him out,” Curry said. “But we needed that fire, so Mrs. Kerr, we forgive him for sure.”
Bucks coach Doc Rivers joked he was disappointed in Kerr.
“He acted like a fool, and I’m done with that from Steve,” said Rivers, who upset his late mother, Bettye, a time or two. “My mom was a church-going lady and I wasn’t using the right language one game and she called and let me have it. It’s interesting ’cause you say ‘I’m sorry’ but do you know the next day you’re going to do it again. So it’s a tough one.”
Kerr said his mom had questioned him before whether he was going to hit someone, but it had been a while.
“Maybe my little brother,” Kerr said with a grin, making his exit from pregame duties.