The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kerr relishes place in Cavs’ history
After his team’s morning shootaround at Quicken Loans Arena on Jan. 15, Warriors coach Steve Kerr had a pop quiz for the assembled reporters.
“Anybody here know what the Miracle of Richfield was?” Kerr asked, smiling.
The reporters from the Cleveland area smiled and nodded in the affirmative about the 1976 Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Cavs and Washington Bullets.
Of the visiting reporters in town, only Ramona Shelburne of ESPN had a vague idea about those long-ago Cavs getting the better of the heavily favored Bullets in a riveting, seven-game playoff series.
The larger context for Kerr’s inquiry was his remembrance of playing for the Cavs from 1989 until 1992, when their home arena was the Richfield Coliseum in semi-rural Summit County.
“I loved that place,” Kerr said. “Larry Bird said it was his favorite arena. It had a great shooting background behind the baskets.”
Kerr pointed toward the rafters at The Q, from which hang banners honoring his former Cavs teammates Brad Daugherty, Mark Price and Larry Nance.
“Those were some great teams. We just kept running into Michael Jordan,” Kerr said of some crushing losses in the playoffs to Jordan and the Bulls.
The irony is Kerr wound up joining the Bulls as a free agent in September 1993 and played with Jordan on Chicago teams that won four NBA titles.
Kerr remains a part of Cleveland’s pro basketball continuum as head coach of the team that has squared off against LeBron James and the Cavs in the last three NBA Finals.
The Warriors prevailed in 2015 and 2017.
In the 2016 Finals, James and the Cavs became the first team in NBA Finals annals to overcome a 3-1 series deficit en route to winning the title and ending Cleveland’s 52-year run without a pro sports championship.
The recent history between two of the NBA’s premier teams is why Kerr said he and his players were excited about facing the Cavs despite the home team having dropped nine of its 11 games.
“This is Lakers-Celtics in the ’80s — it truly is,” Kerr said. “I don’t try to downplay it at all. We’ve met three straight years in the Finals. Unbelievable rivalry. Great history. Great players on both sides. Great theater. Unbelievable atmospheres here and at Oracle (Arena).
“Just because they’re struggling a little bit doesn’t mean anything in terms of the rivalry,” Kerr added. “This is still one of the games of the year.”
From a distance, Kerr said he wasn’t surprised at the recent downturn in the Cavs’ fortunes.
“They just got Isaiah (Thomas) back. They’re incorporating him into the lineup,” Kerr said. “LeBron has been to the Finals 15 straight years or something. What he does is so unbelievably taxing.”
James actually has been to seven straight NBA Finals, three with the Cavs and four with the Heat.
“There’s no way they are going to win 65 games,” Kerr added about the Cavs. “They have to pace themselves through the year a little bit. You think about the last three years, every year they have some lulls.
“We know what’s coming in the spring. They’ll figure it out. This is just part of what happens in the NBA and the long season. Everybody has to go through it.”
Kerr, who often has spoken plainly about social issues, said he relishes opportunities to be part of games on Martin Luther King Day.
“It’s become a great day for the NBA because we celebrate basketball, but what we’re really celebrating is equality and inclusion which is what the NBA represents,” Kerr said.
“We have players from all over the world and different backgrounds,” he added. “We have players who are socially active and trying to promote peace and understanding. These are ideals that Dr. King felt strongly about.
“It’s a day to remember what’s truly important and what we’re aspiring to as a country.”