Steve Kerr has come a long way since his childhood days in Pacific Palisades. After graduating from Palisades High in 1983, his life has centered around basketball and although his playing days are long over he continues to impact the game he loves.
On Wednesday, Kerr became the first rookie head coach in National Basketball Association history to win 19 of his first 21 games with Golden State’s 105-93 home victory over Houston.
Kerr was hired to coach the Warriors on May 14 and thus far he has been the perfect fit to mold a talented team featuring perhaps the league’s best backcourt tandem: Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
“It means that I’m the luckiest coach in NBA history because I inherited a team that was already really good,” Kerr said after Wednesday’s record-setting mark — the Warriors’ 14th consecutive win. “You just want to pile up wins in the West. Keep putting some numbers in the win column because there’s 61 games left.”
Kerr played for Lute Olson at the University of Arizona in Tucson, then spent 15 seasons in the NBA, winning five championships (three with Chicago and two with San Antonio) and retiring as the league’s career leader in three-point accuracy. Before taking the job in the Bay Area the 49-year-old Kerr was a TNT analyst and served three years as general manager of the Phoenix Suns. He came back to the Palisades to ride as grand marshal in this year’s Fourth of July Parade.
Golden State is off to the fastest start in franchise history and owns the best record in the NBA.
— Steve Galluzzo
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