Steve Kerr Wins 600th Game

Monday night’s game between the Golden State Warriors and the Washington Wizards was far from a classic as both teams entered the night riding losing streaks. While the Warriors are headed to the postseason play-in tournament, the end of the season cannot come soon enough for the Wizards as they look towards the NBA Draft. However, for a Warriors team that had won just twice in their previous ten games, their 125-117 victory brought more than just a “W” as it also brought coach Steve Kerr his 600th victory. 

While Kerr is still miles away from Gregg Popovich’s record of 1,412 and is 38 victories behind Chuck Daly to enter the top 25 list, Kerr did reach the milestone in 943 games, the fourth fastest behind Phil Jackson (805), Pat Riley (832), and Popovich (887). That’s arguably three of the four faces on the Mount Rushmore of NBA Coaches. 

Ironically, Kerr is connected to two of those coaches, winning NBA titles as a player for Popovich (San Antonio Spurs) and Jackson (Chicago Bulls), taking notes from their coaching style and playbooks before taking over the Warriors head coaching job from Mark Jackson in 2014. A five-time champion as a role player, Kerr has added four more rings as a coach. 

Welcoming back Kristaps Porzingis and Draymond Green to the lineup after both missed the Warriors' previous game against the New York Knicks, one in which Golden State gave up a 21-point lead, Kerr was his typical honest self about Monday night’s game. 

"Not a great basketball game. But we needed the win and were good enough to get the win. It’s surreal to hear my name in that group, but I can tell you that one thing that bonds us all together, those names and mine, is talent. You can’t win in this league without great players, and I was blessed from the day I took this job with incredible talent," he said.

At the age of 60, Kerr still has plenty of years ahead of him roaming the sidelines. The dynasty days are winding down, but 600 wins, nine championships, coach of one of the greatest teams in the modern NBA era, and a place among the fastest coaches to ever reach the milestone will certainly one day welcome Kerr into the Hall of Fame.