Getty Head coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors directs his team against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Amazingly enough, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr has only been coaching since 2014. That makes his 3 NBA Championships that much more impressive.
Kerr averaged 6 points per game on 45.4% 3-point shooting over a 16-year NBA career spanning stints with the Suns, Cavaliers, Bulls, Trail Blazers and Spurs. He also won 5 NBA titles, which includes 3 with Michael Jordan and Chicago and 2 with Gregg Popovich and San Antonio.
In between his time as a player and a coach, he spent the intervening years as a television analyst, as well as general manager and part owner of the Phoenix Suns. Overall, the 53-year old has 8 NBA Championships in his life.
As a player, he played integral roles in several of the titles. In the final seconds of Game 6 in the 1997 Finals versus Utah, he hit the title-winner after taking a pass from Michael Jordan for a 90-86 victory. This was Chicago’s 5th championship in franchise history.
In the next series, he returned the favor to Jordan. In Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals against Utah, Kerr missed a 3-pointer, grabbed his own rebound and made a pass to Jordan who made a crucial three-point play, putting them in the lead for good. This helped the Bulls tie the series at 1, setting up Jordan’s 6th championship.
For the Spurs, Kerr made four second-half three-pointers that helped eliminate Dallas in Game 6 of the 2003 Western Conference Finals. San Antonio would end up topping the New Jersey Nets in the Finals.
With Golden State, he became the 1st coach to win an NBA title in his debut season since Pat Riley did it with the Lakers in 1982. He did this with the then-young core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green over LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
With 2 more Finals drubbings over Cleveland (with one series loss in 2016), he moved up to 6th all-time for coaches with NBA Championships. He trails Popovich, Riley and former Minneapolis Lakers coach John Kundla by 2.
He also needs 7 titles to pass Celtics legend Red Auerbach, as well as 9 more to pass Phil Jackson.
To get title No. 4 as a coach, he and the Warriors first need to put away the pesty Clippers in the Western Conference 1st Round. The series is currently tied as it heads to Los Angeles Thursday night (10:30 p.m. EST, TNT). The Clippers erased a 31-point deficit to seize Game Two 135-131.
Get past them, and it’s likely that Golden State will have to get past the Rockets to reach the Conference Finals.