Steve Kerr can knock one more goal off his illustrious basketball resume: coaching his country to an Olympic gold medal.
The former Arizona basketball star coached USA Basketball to gold Saturday as the Americans held off France 98-87. It was the United States’ fifth straight gold medal in the Olympics.
The path there wasn’t easy, as Kerr noted after the game. USA had to come back from a double-digit deficit in the semifinals against Serbia to reach the gold medal contest.
“They did it. When you coach, you just try to help them along,” Kerr told NBC. “We have the most incredible group of players. Through all the noise and all the pressure, I think we might be the only team in the world whose fans are ashamed of them if they don’t get a gold medal.”
GOLD pic.twitter.com/LHoQLVbPNT
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) August 10, 2024
On Saturday a familiar story played out for Kerr as Golden State Warriors great Steph Curry made eight three-pointers to lead the United States to victory.
“The shot making was just incredible,” Kerr said. “Under the circumstances, on the road against France in Paris, this is storybook stuff. But that’s what Steph does. He likes to be in storybooks.”
For Kerr, the gold medal is the latest achievement in a career that includes nine NBA championships, four as a player and five as a coach.
Kerr was also an assistant coach on USA’s gold medal team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.