The Golden State coach is one of the fastest to reach the mark, but after reaching 599 the Warriors lost five in a row. They snapped that skid with a 125-117 win over Washington on Monday night.
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“It’s not a great basketball game,” Kerr said. “But we needed the win and we were good enough to get it.”
Kerr reached 600 in his 943rd regular season game. Only three coaches have needed less, according to information from the Elias Sports Bureau distributed by the Warriors. Phil Jackson did it in 805 games, Pat Riley in 832 and Gregg Popovich in 887.
“It’s surreal to hear my name in that group, but I can tell you that one thing that unites us all, those names and mine, is talent,” Kerr said. “You can’t win in this league without great players, and from the day I took this job I was blessed with incredible talent.”
There hasn’t been as much of that in Golden State’s recent lineups. Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler are out with injuries, and the Warriors are in a race to position themselves in the Western Conference play-in round. They had Draymond Green and Kristaps Porzingis back after resting them in Sunday’s loss in New York.
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Porzingis scored a game-high 30 points.
“He’s quite a talent,” Kerr said. “We’re also on Kristaps Porzingis’ reunion tour. It’s kind of crazy. We’re playing each of his old teams. The Knicks, Washington, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, all five of his teams, we’ll see them on this trip. Players usually get up to play their old teams.”
The Warriors’ next game will be Wednesday night against the Celtics.
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NBA AP: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA