Warriors' Steve Kerr calls 2014 memory one of best feelings of his life

Share

When Steve Kerr was hired as head coach of the Warriors in May 2014, he had no prior coaching experience.

That is not entirely true, actually, as he reminded everybody in April 2016:

Anyways, since Kerr took over the reigns in Golden State, the Warriors have won three titles and reached the NBA Finals five straight seasons from 2015 to 2019.

When you experience that sort of unprecedented success, you create a lot of memories along the way. So last Friday, Warriors play-by-play broadcaster Bob Fitzgerald asked the eight-time NBA champion a tough question:

"What is your favorite coaching memory? That's a hard one. But is there a memory that might not jump out to everybody that you kind of hold dear that still a really cool one for you?" Fitzgerald asked.

Kerr proceeded to take a walk down memory lane to mid-November 2014.

"I suppose on a really personal level I will share this one. My first year coaching -- I came in with all these big ideas and grand plans, and deep down I had no idea if any of it would work," he told Fitzgerald. "You come in and you plan for something and you hold your breath and go, 'All right. I hope I can make this connection, I hope we can win some games and I hope these plays that we're putting in work.'

"We were playing well but I was a little nervous. We played a game in LA -- it was maybe the 12th game of the year -- we played the Lakers. And we had a four-day break after the game. I told the players, 'If we handle our business tonight, I'm gonna give you the next two days off.' I might as well have told them all that I was gonna give them a million dollars each (laughter).

"You couldn't imagine the excitement in that locker room. Andre Iguodala was like, 'Hell yeah, I got two days of golf coming up. Don't f this up guys. Come on. Let's go.' The Lakers were down that season, but we went out and we just trounced them.

"I came down to San Diego because I had given the guys two days off. I like to surf. I hadn't surfed in a while. I went out and I surfed -- which is just an amazing feeling to start with -- but I just remember being out on my surfboard thinking, 'We're 10-2, the guys are happy -- this stuff is working. This is gonna work. It's gonna happen.'

"It's one of the best feelings I've ever had."

[RUNNIN' PLAYS PODCAST: Listen to the latest episode]

First and foremost, that reaction from Iguodala is perfectly on-brand and not a surprise whatsoever. He's an avid golfer.

Secondly, the Warriors crushed the Lakers, 136-115, and led by as many as 38 points. Steph Curry racked up 30 points and 15 assists, and Marreese Speights scored 24 points off the bench.

[RELATED: Warriors make fun of Draymond same way once each year]

The win -- their third in a row -- moved the Warriors to 8-2 on the season. They ended up winning 13 more consecutive games before finally losing to the Memphis Grizzlies on Dec. 16.

So lastly, Kerr absolutely was correct. His stuff was working and would continue to work. 

Follow @DrewShiller on Twitter and Instagram

[SPORTS UNCOVERED: Listen to the latest episode]

Contact Us