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Steve Kerr Becomes Fastest Coach To Win 300 Games In Professional Sports History

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Pivoting now to basketball. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics over the weekend, marking a milestone for the Warriors' coach.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: And that'll do it. The Warriors win their 10th in a row.

SHAPIRO: Saturday's victory was the 300th regular season win for Coach Steve Kerr. Here's Ben Golliver, NBA writer for The Washington Post.

BEN GOLLIVER: Three hundred wins is a little bit arbitrary in the NBA, but the impressive part is how fast he did it.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Kerr notched those 300 wins faster than any other coach in NBA and professional sports history.

GOLLIVER: He was really able to mold a young team into his own vision of how basketball should be played, and that's why you've seen this just incredible success. They've been to the finals every single year with Steve Kerr as their coach. And they are on track to go to their fifth straight finals this season.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: Here comes Curry, Curry down the middle, alley-oop to Durant.

Back to Klay Thompson for three, puts it in.

SHAPIRO: This team has been stacked with star power since Kerr's arrival in 2014. But senior writer Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated says big talent doesn't always equal big success.

CHRIS BALLARD: It's easy to say, oh, it's just all talent. But lots and lots of talented teams have either succeeded for a year or maybe two years and then imploded. So really what we should be crediting Steve with is the ability to keep these guys happy, motivated and comfortable together.

CORNISH: And Kerr always credits his success to his players. Here he is speaking with a local ABC affiliate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Three hundred wins for you. What does that mean to you?

STEVE KERR: It means I'm very thankful for being dealt four aces in a poker game.

SHAPIRO: By four aces, he means his all-star squad. Like any dominant team, it is easy to hate the Warriors. But Ballard says it's pretty hard to hate Steve Kerr.

BALLARD: Steve has this remarkable ability - when you meet him, within a couple minutes, he's able to make every conversation about the other person in a way that's genuine.

CORNISH: And with another NBA final in sight, there seems to be no stopping Kerr or his team.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #3: KD - there it is. No Warrior team's ever made 10 threes in a quarter until right now.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BASKETBALL")

KURTIS BLOW: (Rapping) Basketball is my favorite sport. I like the way they dribble up and down the court, just like I'm the kind of the microphone... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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