With the Golden State Warriors playing their final season at the Oracle Arena, head coach Steve Kerr can't help but reminisce his years inside the stadium.
The Oracle Arena has been a witness to one of the most dominant runs in NBA history, with the Warriors going to four straight NBA Finals and winning multiple championships. However, the team will move to the Chase Center for the 2019-20 campaign.
Kerr, who took over as Golden State head coach starting in the 2014-15 season, obviously has a lot of fond memories in the arena. And in an interview with Warriors reporter John Dickinson, he shared his favorite moment at The Oracle.
Article Continues Below“Number one moment is beating Houston in game five of the '15 playoffs. For whatever reason that memory stands out even more so than winning the title in '17. I guess just because it was so unexpected. We knew we were gonna be pretty good, but I don't think any of us really knew that we could actually go to the Finals and win a championship. So game five, I just remembered there was a minute left [in the game] and we were up 12 or something, so it was kind of apparent that the game was over, and just sulking in the emotion from everybody; the crowd, our players, our coaches, and I just… I stood at half court and just looked. I just scanned the whole building, the goosebumps were everywhere. Hair standing up at the back of my head, like wow this is really happening. And there was a bigger context to that too because I'm a basketball fan, and I remember coming here many times as a player and as a broadcaster.”
Although the Warriors finished the 2014-15 regular season at the top of the Western Conference, they still had a lot of doubters. The Dubs went on to win the title that season by sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round, beating the Memphis Grizzlies in six games in the conference semifinals and overpowering the Rockets in the conference finals before taking down the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals.
It was the start of the Warriors' dynasty, who went on to win two of the three championships after that season. They are on pace to win their third straight title this year.