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Unlike previous seasons, Steve Kerr has seen this Golden State Warriors roster go through ups and downs throughout the 2017-18 campaign. From quickly getting back on the horse early in the season to take control of the No. 1 seed, to then losing it to the Houston Rockets, only to regain it once more before tailing off toward the end of the season due to a plethora of injuries.
Kerr somehow twinkle-toed that fine line between motivator and monarch, pushing the right buttons at the perfect time to get the team through a grueling 82-game season and into the one that really matters.
“I just tried to find the balance between pushing them and reminding them how important the details are and not pushing them too hard at the same time and not grinding them and wearing them out,” Kerr said, according to Mark Medina of the San Jose Mercury News. “It’s a delicate balance.”
“He’s lived it. I don’t think I’d rather have anybody else shepherding us through this journey than Steve,” said Warriors general manager Bob Myers. “He’s got a great equanimity about it. He predicted it would be pretty hard.”
Out of all the coaches possible to captain this quest for three championships in four years, Kerr was the perfect fit, having been part of a 1997-98 Chicago Bulls team that had to struggle to three-peat a second time. Having won a then-NBA-record 72 games in 1995-96 (later broken by Kerr's Warriors in 2016-17). The Bulls won 67 games the next and struggled through a Scottie Pippen injury to start the season, ultimately finishing the season in a 16-3 run and mustering a 62-20 record.
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“It felt like everything was hanging in the balance. If we lost that game, we were facing a Game 7 on the road,” Kerr said of what would be his penultimate season with the Bulls. ‘Obviously we had this guy, Michael Jordan, who did some good things that night and was able to win. But it really did feel like we were hanging on by a thread.”
Kerr drew inspiration from Phil Jackson, who was the calm in the midst of the storm, much like he had to be for this Warriors roster.
“Phil kind of set the tone,” Kerr recalled. “We kind of knew that was it. We had to take advantage of it and get everybody excited to play and not worry about what was next.”
The Warriors seemingly limped to the postseason, but were able to find their true gear in the playoffs, winning their first two series 4-1 and surviving a seven-game scare against the Houston Rockets, now up 2-0 in the NBA Finals and two games away from winning it all once again, much like the Bulls did in 1997-98.
