SAN ANTONIO – When Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob discussed his organization’s path to greatness recently in an interview that raised more than a few eyebrows around the NBA, a New York Times Magazine piece in which he said they were “light years ahead” of the competition, there was one vital factor in their formula that was largely ignored by the wildly-successful venture capitalist.
Luck.
At every turn of this championship story, there were twists and turns outside anyone’s control pushing them to this point at the AT&T Center on Sunday night. They’d been reminded of that much on Saturday night, when the ball (and the calls) bounced their way in a win over the Memphis Grizzlies that came so close to going the other way.
So when they finally met this moment, downing the San Antonio Spurs 92-86 to improve to 72-9 and thereby ensure at least a tie with the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls for the best regular season record of all time, it was refreshing to hear a humble message attached to their historic moment. The fact that it came from the one guy with the most to boast about made it all the better.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr is the charmed individual with the most mind-bending of roles in it all: sharpshooting reserve on the Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen-led Bulls team that was so legendary, and second-year coach who has had such an impactful influence on the Warriors’ impressive process.
“I don’t even know what to say, really,” said Kerr, whose team will attempt to set a new regular season standard on Wednesday against the Grizzlies at Oracle Arena. “It’s crazy. It just feels like a right-place-right-time type thing to be part of two teams that have performed like this and won at this level for the entire season. I’m pretty lucky, really, just to play next to Michael and Scottie and Dennis (Rodman) and play for Phil (Jackson) and come here and inherit this whole group. Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson) and Draymond (Green) and Andre (Iguodala), and everybody else, as my first coaching job. A pretty good draw.”
To say the least.
For anyone who hasn’t noticed the elephant in this room, this is more than just a regular season record. Because Jordan is involved, and because the vast majority of today’s NBA players grew up idolizing him during his rise to icon status, it’s about as coveted a regular season reward as you’ll ever find.
Everywhere you looked in the Warriors locker room, there was a six-degrees-of-Bulls component that said everything about why it means so much to pull of this feat. Iguodala, who grew up in Springfield, Ill. and whose Wikipedia file swears that Jordan was the player he most looked up to, said after the Spurs win that Pippen was his guy. The defense. The grit. The edge. The two-way capability and deep understanding of team play. It makes perfect sense that he modeled his game after Pippen.
Curry, whose 37-point outing provided a fitting finish to their 72-win pursuit, talked about his days as a youngster looking up to Jordan & Co. while following in his father, Dell’s, footsteps.
“I do remember going to the Charlotte Hornets coliseum, and watching my dad (who played 16 NBA seasons) play,” Curry said. “That was a game you try not to miss. …You’d just try to go and not miss the show. I remember as a kid, being in the back, in the tunnel, waiting to hopefully cross paths with Jordan, Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Coach Kerr. That was something that was a special time as a kid.”
As Curry noted on his way out of the press conference, he hasn’t heard from Jordan throughout the entirety of this amazing run. No one should be surprise, as the two have no more than a casual relationship – “I don’t have his number,” Curry shared – and the record isn’t broken just yet. They have more work to do.
“(Former Bulls big man) Jud Buechler will call me to congratulate me,” Kerr said. “That’s my guy. And Luc Longley will have some snarky joke for me. And everybody else will just mutter expletives under their breath and leave me alone.”
