Stevens, Kerr praise each other in Coach of the Year race

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With Golden State in the midst of a historic run this season, it’s a no-brainer that Steve Kerr (and his fill-in earlier this season Luke Walton) will get serious consideration for the league’s Coach of the Year award.

But whoever gets the award will be far from a unanimous choice.

“There’s a lot of people worthy of the award,” Kerr told reporters earlier tonight. “One being down the hall, Brad Stevens.”

The Celtics head coach has been instrumental in Boston being among the top teams in the Eastern Conference most of this season.

Boston comes into tonight’s game against the Warriors sixth in the East, although only 1.5 games separate them from third-place Atlanta.

“He’s done an incredible job,” Kerr said.

When told of Kerr’s comments, Stevens deflected the praise back at Kerr and San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich who is a three-time winner (2003, 2012 and 2014) of the award.

“That’s a two-horse race between however they want to divide it between Luke and Steve, and then Pop,” Stevens told reporters. “That’s it. Those two teams have had historic runs and nobody should else be in the mix for that. It’s crazy to think about what San Antonio has done.

Stevens added, “There’s no criteria for that (award). The teams that are the best, coaches should get the award. That’s where it would end for me.”

Golden State comes into tonight’s game having won an NBA-record 54 straight at home. And the Warriors’ overall record of 68-7 is two games ahead of where the Chicago Bulls of 1996 were after 75 games in that season when they finished the regular season with a league-record 72 wins.

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