After warrior fell on the Rockets in the NBA Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday with a score of 91-90, a furious one Steve Kerr ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk writes that he blasted the officiating team for a late-game call that led to Houston winning free throws.

“I’m pissed off” said the Warriors head coach. “I wanted to go to Las Vegas. We wanted to win this trophy and we won’t be there because of a foul with a loose ball 80 feet from the basket and the game on the line. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life and it was ridiculous.”

With Golden State up 90-89 and about 10 seconds left on the clock, Stephen Curry missed a three-point attempt and both teams tried to knock down the rebound (Twitter video link via Bleacher Report). Warrior Guard Gary Payton II first fell on the ball and tried to pass it Jonathan Kuminga as two Houston defenders charged at him. Rocket Guard Jalen Green gained control and tried to call a timeout while Kuminga tried to knock the ball away from him.

At that point, a whistle blew, but instead of calling a jump ball or a Rockets timeout, head referee Bill Kennedy ruled that Kuminga had committed a foul and awarded Green two free throws even though there were only four seconds left on the clock . Green did both to give the Rockets the lead and Brandin Podziemski had a buzzer-beater attempt fended off Jabari Smith Jr. to secure Houston’s victory and its place in the NBA Cup semifinals.

“The defender makes contact with the neck and shoulder area, which warrants a personal foul.” Kennedy told a pool reporter after the game how he explained the call to Kuminga.

Kerr, who described the foul as one that a “grade school referee” would have committed, argued that the referees had allowed a lot of physical play up to that point and that the foul on Kuminga was hardly the only contact that occurred during the game Fighting for the rebound after Curry’s miss.

“I have never seen a loose ball foul on a jump ball situation 80 feet from the basket with the game on the line.” Kerr said. “I’ve never seen that before. I think I saw it once in college 30 years ago. Never seen it in the NBA. That is, I think, unreasonable.

“I don’t even understand what just happened. Free ball, bouncing on the floor, 80 feet from the basket, and you give a player two free throws to tie the game while people fight for the ball. Just give them a time out and let the players decide the game. This is how you officiate. Especially because the game was a complete wrestling match. They didn’t call anything.

“So you’ve decided that you’re just not going to call anything for the entire game. It’s a physical game. And call a loose-ball foul in a jump-ball situation with guys jumping around on the floor? When the game is on the line? This is a billion dollar industry. They put people’s jobs at risk.”

Curry, who was also upset after a foul was called on one of his shot attempts early in the fourth quarter (video link), expressed dissatisfaction with both decisions after the game. He admitted that the Warriors, who did not score in the final three minutes of the game and still had a six-point lead with 90 seconds to play, had to take responsibility for the loss, but made it clear that those refereeing decisions were not helpful.

“We can talk about the referees all day, that’s not the reason we lost” Curry said. “But there are swings in the game, obviously the last two free throws and that play, it’s a five-point swing.”

Kerr was also critical of the refereeing team after last Tuesday’s loss to the Nuggets, yelling at the referees as the game ended and complaining about a late call during his postgame media session. He was not punished by the NBA for these comments, but it is very likely that he will face a fine this time.