Steve Kerr responds to Chris Finch's ref gripes: 'I got my complaints too'

On Wednesday, in the wake of the Wolves' ugly Game 1 loss to the Warriors, Chris Finch came out and publicly expressed his frustration with how the game was officiated, specifically in regards to Rudy Gobert and the contact he took while going for rebounds. Finch said Minnesota has submitted clips to the NBA's league office, hoping that'll make a difference in Game 2.

It turns out he wasn't the only head coach involved in Tuesday's game who was displeased with the referees. Asked about Finch's comments later in the afternoon, Steve Kerr said he has his complaints as well, pointing specifically to the Wolves' off-ball defense on Steph Curry in the 13 minutes the Warriors' superstar played before suffering a hamstring injury that knocked him out of the game. Kerr, who said he plans on sending his own clips to the league, noted that the general level of physicality that gets allowed in the playoffs is very high.

"I was upset the first ten minutes of the game, it was just like Houston all over again," Kerr said. "They're bear-hugging Steph and they could've called six fouls. But the league has established the physicality in the playoffs. Chris (Finch) talked about it last week, just the overall physicality. To me, it's crazy out there what's happening. Everybody's fouling each other. (The refs) have a really hard job, because playoff basketball, yes, it's physical and they're going to allow more, but I think they could've called a foul six, seven straight possessions with them guarding Steph.

"So I got my complaints too, trust me. We all do. And this is how it works in the playoffs. We watched the tape, we see all the fouls on them that aren't called. They watch the tape, they see all the ones on us that weren't called. It's a physical game. It's just going to be. And both teams have to adjust. I'm getting ready to send my own clips in to the league."

The physical play teams get away with in the playoffs has been a storyline going back to the opening round. It was particularly notable in the Warriors-Rockets series, which went to seven games. There were also elements of it in the Wolves-Lakers matchup and across the rest of the league. Kerr referred to some comments from Finch, who said on April 24 he thinks the league has "gone way too far" on the physicality that's allowed. "If there's not a fight in that Houston-Golden State series I'd be surprised," he said at the time.

Kerr's point, in response to Finch's post-Game 1 gripes, was that it's been like that all postseason long for the Warriors.

"It has been consistent," Kerr said. "They're consistently allowing teams to foul. As I said, it's a really hard thing to control because everybody's playing so hard and they know what the other team is running. I mean, Ime (Udoka) said it in our Houston series, just keep fouling them, they can't call them all. That's the old Pat Riley, Chuck Daly formula from the late 80s, early 90s.

"This is playoff basketball. I always feel like the officials need to call stuff early in the game to set a tone. Chris has his complaints, I got mine. For eight straight games now, Steph hasn't had any freedom of movement. They've called maybe four or five calls in eight games. And we're watching it on tape, they're literally bear-hugging Steph. That's a foul. But they're allowing it, and like I said, both teams are gonna have complaints every game."

Curry has a Grade 1 hamstring strain and will miss at least the next three games of the series, if not more. Nonetheless, it'll be intriguing to see if the officials continue to allow both teams to play with more physicality than was permitted in the regular season. If so, Minnesota will have to adjust if it wants to bounce back from this 0-1 deficit.