» DURANT FEELS BAD ABOUT REF DIATRIBE
OAKLAND — One day after Kevin Durant went a diatribe against referee James Williams in which he said the official was “in his feelings” and targeted him in the second half of the Warriors’ win over New York on Tuesday, the Warriors’ superstar profusely apologized for his comments on Wednesday.
“I was being an (expletive) last night,” Durant said. “I was being a jerk. That one foul at the end wasn’t a foul. I shouldn’t have slammed the ball down like I did. I can go back and say I was being a jerk last night, and I deserve whatever the league is going to throw at me. I wish I had handled that better, obviously, But it was kind of a heated moment for me. I could be better. It was a great learning experience for me.”
Durant was assessed his first technical foul with 3 minutes and 24 seconds left in the third quarter after slamming the ball off the ground to himself. He was ejected from the game with 2 minutes and 50 seconds left after complaining to Williams because he thought he was fouled on a fast-break layup.
But Durant’s frustration with Williams all stemmed from the referee calling carrying on a crossover move that he made in the first half.
“I worked on that move and I was like, man, that’s my move,” Durant said. “I felt like I made a good move. And they called a carry. That’s one of those calls you don’t get all of the time and it just irritated me, I guess. But I can’t react like that. I wish I could apologize to James because that’s definitely out of my character.”
When Durant took the podium following the Warriors’ 123-112 win over the Knicks on Tuesday, he said that Williams had “an attitude” following their crossover disagreement.
“So second half, his whole thing was like he’s trying to get me,” Durant said Tuesday. “Look at my first tech. I got the rebound and I dribbled the ball hard and he teched me up. He was searching for me. He was looking to try to tech me up to get me back because he was still in his feelings from the first half.”
After Durant calmed down and watched film later that night, he realized that he was in the wrong.
“I wasn’t getting picked on last night,” Durant said. “I was being a diva last night. I’ve got to just own up to it. I watched it when I got home. I was like, man, I was wondering why he was coming at me so hard. Then I watched the plays and I was like, yeah, I looked like a jerk out there. It was bad.”
Durant has been ejected four times this season and has 10 technical fouls, the second-most technical fouls in the league. His teammate, Draymond Green, leads the league in technicals with 11.
He said one reason why the players and the officials may be clashing so much more this season than usual is because of all of the new rule changes.