NBA Rumors: Steve Kerr Mad How Russell Westbrook Got Away Even With Obvious Travel

Golden State Coach Steve Kerr was pretty much frustrated as he was mad in an extremely close match-up between the Warriors and the Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals series. Dismayed over Russell Westbrook getting away with an obvious traveling violation on a critical possession in the last minute of Monday night's game, Kerr just resigned to the fact that 'it's just the way it goes.'

In recent weeks, NBA refs have been repeatedly criticized for a series of officiating mishaps, incorrect calls, and no-calls during the most critical last minutes of a highly tight game.

No doubt, the Thunder played in an upbeat fashion with their second-half performance that allowed them to win 108-102 over the Warriors but a blatant missed call can also spell a critical difference between winning and losing. As OKC clings on dearly to its three-point lead with 17 seconds remaining, Westbrook dribbled his way to midcourt, stopped, and raised both feet- an obvious traveling violation noticed by everyone in the stadium except the referees, USA Today reported.

Even the missed call was not lost on NBA's senior vice president in charge of promoting game transparency. He said the high speed dynamics of the game and the difficulty of getting the right angles of the game made it quite impossible for refs to make the right calls on every appropriate moment.

"The officials, no one could get in a good position to see him drag that pivot foot. It's an unfortunate miss, but so much going on in the play, the speed of it, and officiating is about getting angles and sometimes you just can't get them, and they did not get a great angle on that play," remark NBA Senior VP of replay and referee operations Joe Borgia as quoted by ESPN.

Kerr, on the other hand, although mad, was not really interested in hearing NBA's acknowledgement of the missed travel call. Just like many other NBA coaches and ace players in the league, the famous Golden State coach is against the association's two-minute ref review.

"I don't like the practice. I appreciate the NBA trying to be transparent, but it's unfair to the officials...They have an impossible job...And there are going to be bad calls both ways, every game. They're never going to be perfect...I don't think there's any point, personally, in exposing bad calls. It doesn't serve a purpose to me," Kerr said, ABC News reported.