Klay Thompson totally traveled on this three-point shot in the corner. As Golden State was trashing the Trail Blazers on Saturday, Thompson shuffled all over the place to free himself for an open look. That’s perfectly normal — a decent number of travels don’t get called these days. But to have his own team snitch on him from the bench makes it even funnier.
The Warriors’ bench called Klay Thompson for traveling. You read that correctly.
Golden State was so bored they were calling out their own teammate for traveling.
It’s funnier because the players are messing with their coach about this, too. Kerr was fined $25,000 in November for these comments, with the transcription via CSN Bay Area.
“How is it that everybody on Earth can see these traveling violations except for the three people that we pay to do the job? I don’t get it. It’s bizarre,” Kerr said on KNBR 680. “It’s (traveling) a point of emphasis on one particular play and that’s when you catch and go ... it’s just the one that the officials are taught to see.
“But I can literally put together a blooper reel of plays that are embarrassing travels that are just not called. I believe it’s a case of they have so many things to look at — they are looking at defensive three seconds, the contact in the lane when people are cutting through the lane, they’re looking at the charge and block circle — they’re looking at everything except what they should be looking at which is the basic rule of the game, which is traveling.
“And it’s a shame because guys are getting away with murder out there and the fans see it. My favorite is when you see the visiting team travel and you see like a 1,000 fans in the background all doing the traveling signal with their hands. If those people saw it, how come the refs didn’t?”
The NBA plans to experiment with four and five referees in D-League games this season, with the first one happening on Dec. 26. Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle thinks adding another referee would help the NBA cut down on traveling calls, in particular.
But until then, we’ll have to rely on the Warriors’ bench.
