The Golden State Warriors’ sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in this year’s NBA Finals not only cemented them as one of the greatest teams in sports history — it also made good on a bold prediction by head coach Steve Kerr.
After the Warriors completed the four-game rout of the Cavs on Friday to clinch their third NBA title in the last four seasons, Kerr revealed that he told his staff and his players when they were down 3-2 to the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals that they were going to win six straight games.
“You thought I was crazy but I told you, I felt good after Game 5 in the Houston series,” Kerr was quoted as saying after winning the championship, per Ethan Strauss of The Athletic. “I just saw something and I thought, yeah we got this. Now there’s a lot of chance that can happen. Somebody sprains an ankle, or the ball bounces the wrong way, whatever, but I felt like as long as nothing happened injury-wise, we were going to win that series.”
While making such an assertion in private is obviously very different from making it in public, Kerr’s alleged prediction was still remarkable nonetheless. For one, the Warriors were not only down in the conference final series to a formidable Houston team, but they also did not yet know the status of Rockets guard Chris Paul for Games 6 and 7 either. Furthermore, they also did not know who would advance in the Eastern Conference between the young, well-coached Boston Celtics or the cyborg known as LeBron James and his Cavs.
In the end, it all fell into place for the Warriors just as Kerr foretold, and given what he told reporters at the time, it’s easy to believe he made that prediction.
