Steve Kerr had the top field goal percentage of any Chicago Bull in the 1995/96 season. The Bulls won a then-record 72 games that year. Year later, Kerr the Golden State Warriors' coach, won 73 games in the 2015/16 season. But we are getting off topic.
Kerr, who was also a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1991/92 (Starting a career high 20 games), arrived in Chicago for the 1993/94 season and averaged 8.6 points per game. Steve took 577 shots from the field. Both marks were a career high.
But the Bulls only made it to the second round in 1994. The next season, Orlando beat them. It was time, in 1995/96, to get back to winning. As in winning it all.
But the Bulls might not have been so dominant without Steve. He did no start any game, but was fifth on the team in minutes played, 1919. That meant he played 23.4 minutes per game. While Chicago had Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman (Not to mention such forgotten contributors as Ron Harper, Luc Longley, and Toni Kukoc), they needed some of their reserves to step it up should foul trouble or other should some unforeseeable event arise.
I actually saw one of Kerr's best games. 1995/96 was also the year the NBA expanded north of the border. The Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzles came to play ball on the hardwood floor that year. Toronto had an interesting first year, winning 21 games. And one of them was against Chicago.
The Raps edged the Bulls 109-108 on March 24th of that season. Rodman did not play. Kerr, however, played a huge role. In 21 minutes (So below his normal time), all he did was go seven for ten from the field, three of those from three-point land. In fact, Kerr did not miss from two point range in the entire game. Oh, MJ? Well, he was pretty good, too. He shot 14-22. But despite hit 36 and Kukoc's 23, it was not enough.
Kerr got a season-high 19 points on February 23rd. He had also scored 17 again on January 30th and February 15th. When the season was over, however, Kerr had shot .506 from the field. What did MJ shoot, you ask? Why .495. Pippen shot only .463 and Kukoc .490. No one else besides Kerr shot better than .483 coming off the bench. As a team, the Bulls shot .478. That was still well above the league average, which was only .462. Chicago, as a team, finished seventh in the league.
But Kerr watched as Jordan and co. got it all going in the playoffs. Kerr played a little less and didn't contribute as much as I'm sure he would have liked. But he had his moments. Against Orlando in the conference finals, he went off for 14 points, including an amazing 4-5 performance from downtown. That was in game one, and sent the message of superiority to the Magic. In the fourth and final game, Chicago complete the sweep and Kerr had 9 points.
In the finals against Seattle, Kerr needed a bit of time to get untracked. He failed to score a point in twelve minutes of game one. In the second contest, Steve Kerr managed only three points. He finally had a good game in the third contest, scoring 8 points in 25 minutes (Equaling the total him he'd played in games one and two combined). The Bulls routed the Supersonics at home to go up 3-0. But was Kerr needed?
Seattle snapped 'em back to reality with back-to-back wins at home to sent the finals back to where it all began. Kerr scored only five in the fourth game. He missed six of his seven attempts from three-point range in game six, one of the reasons Chicago lost 89-78. They'd lost game four pretty badly, 107-86.
Back at the United Centre for the sixth game, Kerr helped. The Bulls didn't shoot well. Jordan, 5-19. Pippen, 7-17. Rodman, 4-9. Harper, 3-11. Only Longley salvaged some pride among the starters as he shot 5-6. But Kerr, limited to just 17 minutes, came to play, hitting 3 of his four attempts from the field, including a three-pointer. Steve had no intentions of letting an upstart team like Seattle ruin a strong, record-setting year (And probably ditto for this season!). The Bulls went on to win 87-75 despite shooting just .397 from the field.
References
Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 25 Apr. 2016.
Kerr, who was also a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1991/92 (Starting a career high 20 games), arrived in Chicago for the 1993/94 season and averaged 8.6 points per game. Steve took 577 shots from the field. Both marks were a career high.
But the Bulls only made it to the second round in 1994. The next season, Orlando beat them. It was time, in 1995/96, to get back to winning. As in winning it all.
But the Bulls might not have been so dominant without Steve. He did no start any game, but was fifth on the team in minutes played, 1919. That meant he played 23.4 minutes per game. While Chicago had Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman (Not to mention such forgotten contributors as Ron Harper, Luc Longley, and Toni Kukoc), they needed some of their reserves to step it up should foul trouble or other should some unforeseeable event arise.
I actually saw one of Kerr's best games. 1995/96 was also the year the NBA expanded north of the border. The Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzles came to play ball on the hardwood floor that year. Toronto had an interesting first year, winning 21 games. And one of them was against Chicago.
The Raps edged the Bulls 109-108 on March 24th of that season. Rodman did not play. Kerr, however, played a huge role. In 21 minutes (So below his normal time), all he did was go seven for ten from the field, three of those from three-point land. In fact, Kerr did not miss from two point range in the entire game. Oh, MJ? Well, he was pretty good, too. He shot 14-22. But despite hit 36 and Kukoc's 23, it was not enough.
Kerr got a season-high 19 points on February 23rd. He had also scored 17 again on January 30th and February 15th. When the season was over, however, Kerr had shot .506 from the field. What did MJ shoot, you ask? Why .495. Pippen shot only .463 and Kukoc .490. No one else besides Kerr shot better than .483 coming off the bench. As a team, the Bulls shot .478. That was still well above the league average, which was only .462. Chicago, as a team, finished seventh in the league.
But Kerr watched as Jordan and co. got it all going in the playoffs. Kerr played a little less and didn't contribute as much as I'm sure he would have liked. But he had his moments. Against Orlando in the conference finals, he went off for 14 points, including an amazing 4-5 performance from downtown. That was in game one, and sent the message of superiority to the Magic. In the fourth and final game, Chicago complete the sweep and Kerr had 9 points.
In the finals against Seattle, Kerr needed a bit of time to get untracked. He failed to score a point in twelve minutes of game one. In the second contest, Steve Kerr managed only three points. He finally had a good game in the third contest, scoring 8 points in 25 minutes (Equaling the total him he'd played in games one and two combined). The Bulls routed the Supersonics at home to go up 3-0. But was Kerr needed?
Seattle snapped 'em back to reality with back-to-back wins at home to sent the finals back to where it all began. Kerr scored only five in the fourth game. He missed six of his seven attempts from three-point range in game six, one of the reasons Chicago lost 89-78. They'd lost game four pretty badly, 107-86.
Back at the United Centre for the sixth game, Kerr helped. The Bulls didn't shoot well. Jordan, 5-19. Pippen, 7-17. Rodman, 4-9. Harper, 3-11. Only Longley salvaged some pride among the starters as he shot 5-6. But Kerr, limited to just 17 minutes, came to play, hitting 3 of his four attempts from the field, including a three-pointer. Steve had no intentions of letting an upstart team like Seattle ruin a strong, record-setting year (And probably ditto for this season!). The Bulls went on to win 87-75 despite shooting just .397 from the field.
References
Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 25 Apr. 2016.
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