Steve Kerr names Western Conference rival as “the best center I’ve ever seen”

There are very few coaches in NBA history that can match the trophy haul of Steve Kerr, who played for the all-conquering Chicago Bulls team of the 1990s before leading the Golden State Warriors to four more championships.

Across that time Kerr has played with and against countless NBA greats. But after the Warriors’ hard-fought victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday night, Kerr singled out Nikola Jokic for special praise.

“He’s the best center I’ve ever seen,” Kerr told reporters after the game. “I played against Kareem... Kareem couldn’t do all this stuff.”

“Eras dictate a lot of that, so we’re in the modern era and we’re watching a guy who is doing things that no one has every done before. But goes so far beyond the skill level though with Jokic. It’s the demeanour, it’s the competitiveness, it’s the intelligence. He is absolutely one of the smartest players ever and you see it in so many ways.”

Are the Warriors hitting form at the right time?

Despite Jokic’s best efforts (33 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists) the Warriors were victorious on Friday night, moving them to within one win of the Nuggets at fourth in the Western Conference standings.

The mid-season arrival of Jimmy Butler has added extra depth to this Warriors roster, going 21-5 since his debut on February 8. Already this week the Warriors have beaten the Memphis Grizzlies, LA Lakers and the Warriors, three teams with genuine championship ambitions. The Warriors are an aging team but they have plenty of title-winning experience and they’ve started to show it down the stretch.

“We’re playing like that,” Stephen Curry said, when asked if the team was playing at a ‘championship level’. “We have a lot of work. I’ve been saying that since this run started. We still have a lot of work to do to finish the year strong. You are seeing an identity on a night-to-night that we understand how to win games.

“Whether it’s games where tempo is a lot faster, you got to score or if it’s a grind-out defensive game. We’ve played better in fourth quarters with leads. All the things that championship-caliber teams do, we’ve been doing, and it’s clearly different than two months ago.”

“For us to just be able to get into a playoffs series, we understand what we’re capable of, and whether you’re predicting it or speaking it into existence or whatever it is, the confidence is there. So just ride that wave.”

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