Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr lashed out at the “dumbest” rule in the NBA after watching the Houston Rockets target Steph Curry.
Curry and the Warriors were routed 131-116 in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series, meaning the teams meet again on Friday at Chase Center with the Rockets hoping to win again and draw level at 3-3.
One game at a time 👏 pic.twitter.com/DOQzCJr5ed
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) May 1, 2025
The game was notable for the Rockets’ Alperen Sengun and Dillon Brooks targeting Curry’s injured right thumb with contact after the veteran had got his shot away – something that is currently allowed in the rules.
📰 Table Of Contents
Warriors’ protests fall on deaf ears
Curry and Kerr pleaded with the officials but with little success.
“So the rule is once the shot has been released, you’re allowed to hit a guy’s arm,” Kerr said. “And so what’s happened in the league this year is, players always are, they’re going to outsmart the rules. They know what they’re doing. So players all over the league are just taking shots at guys’ shooting hands after the release because they know it’s not going to be a foul. And I’m very confident that next year the league will fix it because it’s only a matter of time before somebody breaks a thumb or breaks a hand or whatever. But these are the rules.
“I do believe they’re allowed to call a flagrant if they want. The refs can call flagrant if a guy winds up and takes a shot. But no, it’s been happening across the league all year long. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, but we have to take it through the league process to get that changed.”
Brooks did little to hide the Rockets’ gameplan, and laughed off criticism of his tactic on the Warriors broadcast.
“I’ve been playing the game,” he said. “If [someone] had an injured ankle, I would attack that ankle every single time.
“So, whatever they’re saying on the broadcast, they can keep saying it.”
Dillon Brooks on whether he’s trying to get at Steph’s thumb:
“If I had an injured ankle, I would attack that ankle every single time. So, whatever they’re saying on the broadcast, they can keep saying it” pic.twitter.com/j3SwixMdDQ
— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) May 1, 2025
Tactics not hampering Curry – Kerr
Kerr denied the injury – and the Rockets’ approach to it – was affecting Curry, despite the stats suggesting otherwise with the greatest 3-pointer in the history of the game making just five of 17 attempts from behind the arc in the last two games.
“No, I don’t think it’s impacting him,” Kerr said of Curry’s thumb. “It’s just players are going to do whatever they’re allowed to do. So on every release Steph’s getting hit, but it’s basically within the rules.
“So that’s how the league wants it right now, and I know we got 30 coaches who all think it’s just idiotic that we allow this, so we’ll have to take it through the competition committee, all that stuff this summer and eventually we’ll get it fixed.”
