Steve Kerr told Warriors to ‘win one for the Gipper’

Steve Kerr was so ill on Saturday that he was unable to coach his team in Game 3 of their playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers, but he still gave them a classic motivational speech.

According to Steph Curry, Kerr told his Warriors to “win one for the Gipper.”

Following Golden State’s 119-113 comeback victory in Portland, Curry was interviewed by ESPN’s J.A. Adande and asked why he was clutching the final ball. Curry said it was because he wanted to give the game ball to Kerr.

Steph kept the game ball for Steve Kerr pic.twitter.com/7YDUZyUCqt

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) April 23, 2017

“Our coach is going through a lot right now physically,” Curry told Adande. “He told us this morning this is a situation where we need to go out and rally and win a game for him. We felt like the way the game had gone on we had to fight and do it for him. The way he said it was we had to win one for the Gipper. So shout out to Coach Kerr.”

“Win one for the Gipper” is a legendary sports quote with origins dating back to halftime of Notre Dame’s football game with Army in 1928. Former Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne told his players to “win one for the Gipper” during halftime of the game — a reference to late Notre Dame player George Gipp — and they went out and won the contest.

The Warriors were playing without their head coach and pulled off a comeback victory just like the Fighting Irish. They really won one for the Kerr this time and are now up 3-0 in their first-round playoff series.