Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr admitted that he was extremely nervous before making the championship-winning shot for the Chicago Bulls in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz.
Kerr hit the decisive jumper after receiving a pass from Michael Jordan, helping Chicago secure its fifth NBA championship.
However, he explained that his apparent confidence before taking the shot did not reflect how he actually felt.
“I was faking it. I’m not kidding. I was so nervous. But I was far enough along in my career where I had learned the value of just letting it fly.”
Kerr said his experience in the league had taught him to avoid overthinking important moments.
He also credited former Bulls coach Phil Jackson with helping players manage pressure through mindfulness and breathing exercises.
“You can’t overthink anything. You can’t think about the repercussions. And Phil Jackson had been a great mentor for me, teaching our whole team the value of mindfulness and meditation and breathing. He used to take timeouts in crucial situations and just literally lead us in a breathing session.”
According to Kerr, Jackson occasionally used timeouts to help the team relax rather than immediately discussing basketball strategy.
“He would just say, ‘Everybody, just deep breath.’ And we’d all take a deep breath. And no other coach was doing that. So I was definitely pretending to be more calm than I was.”
Kerr also discussed how his personality influenced his ability to remain composed during difficult situations.
He said his father taught him to listen carefully and maintain a calm appearance, even when dealing with frustration or self-doubt.
“But I do think that it is part of my personality, something I learned from my dad, to listen and to take everything in and to at least appear calm. And approach things in a relatively calm manner. And it wasn’t an easy thing for me to do because I also have a competitive rage inside me that for many years I had to fight, because I beat myself up inside. My inner voice was not that kind to me.”
“So I feel like it’s been a lifetime of trying to sort through all this stuff.”
Kerr’s jumper gave Chicago an 88-86 victory over Utah and secured the Bulls’ second consecutive championship.
