By Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Sports journalist
Coach of the Warriors since 2015, Steve Kerr had the chance to manage many stars during his tenure, including Kevin Durant for three seasons. However, he remains deeply remorseful regarding his management of the Slim Reaper.
Overall, his time in the Bay can undoubtedly be considered a success. In the space of three seasons spent with the Warriors, Kevin Durant won two championship rings and played in three Finals. The latest one, against the Raptors, however, marked the end of his adventure there, and in a rather dramatic way. No one has indeed forgotten his terrible Achilles tendon injury:
One year ago, Kevin Durant made his heroic return in Game 5 of the NBA Finals before tearing his Achilles.
He had 11 points in the first quarter before the injury. pic.twitter.com/TziRJPntJ6
— ESPN (@espn) June 10, 2020
Steve Kerr’s laments about Kevin Durant
Absent during part of the 2019 playoffs due to a painful right calf, Durant had to wait until Game 5 against Toronto to make his return. A return quickly cut short by a new physical problem, which led him to have a blank season the following year. In the columns of TIMESteve Kerr revealed at the time that he did not immediately understand the scale of this catastrophe:
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At first I thought he had re-injured his calf. That was what we were worried about before the match started. I thought, “Oh my God, poor boy, he’s re-injured his calf, the series is over for him.” He was playing so well and we were finally playing like we were used to. (…) But hey, it’s going to be okay for him. »
Caught up in the match, the coach only discovered the real verdict at half-time. News that obviously weighed him down:
I was like, “Oh shit. ” It changes everything. We didn’t anticipate that at all. If we had felt that there was the slightest risk of him injuring his Achilles tendon, we would not have put him on the field. As a result, I felt both devastated for him and for our team, and I felt dread for how this happened. It’s like that. We gathered as much information as we could, checked all the boxes and tried to make the best decision.
In the end, this is what happened. So I feel partly responsible, even if our process was thoughtful. It’s also a reminder that there are no guarantees in the medical world. We can’t be sure of anything.
A painful lesson for Kerr and the Dubs, who tried to learn from it so as not to make the same kind of mistake in the years that followed.
If he can be satisfied with Kevin Durant’s passage to the Warriors as a whole, Steve Kerr does not hide his regrets about the match which marked the end. A scenario that is difficult to predict for which he nevertheless feels a part of guilt.
2023-10-28 11:40:00
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