Kerr Fined For Profane Outburst

OAKLAND, California (AP):

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is sorry he swore more than once at a referee. He knows how hard that job must be.

Kerr was fined US$25,000 by the NBA yesterday for his outburst directed at official Bill Spooner late in the third quarter of Golden State's three-point overtime loss at Sacramento on Saturday night.

"I knew I was going to get fined. I deserve it," Kerr said.

The reigning NBA Coach of the Year yelled profanities and was held back on the court by assistant coach Mike Brown during the 109-106 defeat. He became irate after a pair of loose ball fouls on Kevon Looney 18 seconds apart, pointing and gesturing in Spooner's direction.

Kerr said he had apologised to Spooner through NBA Executive Vice-president of Basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe and would do so in person the next time Spooner is assigned to work the Warriors.

"It was totally inappropriate and I deserve to be fined," Kerr said. "It didn't surprise me how I angry I was, but the word choice was very poor."

The league said Kerr was verbally abusive to officials and failed to leave the court in a timely manner following his ejection with three minutes and 34 seconds left in the period.

To those who get into officiating, Kerr said: "God bless you. Those guys have miserable jobs. We yell at them, every coach yells at them every game. Part of being a good ref is you understand it's not personal. That's why I don't think this will be any issue. Bill's a really good ref. He's been in this league a long time. I'll apologise and I'm sure he'll be fine. Like I said, they're kind of used to the abuse. It's never personal."