The Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets are currently playing a crucial Game 5 in their tied-up Western Conference Finals series.
And after a break in the third quarter, TNT had an “Audio Assist” moment showing a mic’d up Warriors head coach Steve Kerr talking to Golden State star Kevin Durant about trusting his teammates early in a possession. Kerr told Durant a story about Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson having a similar conversation about finding open Chicago Bulls teammates, namely John Paxson (and Steve Kerr would also play this role in his Bulls days).
This is about as cool as the in-game, mic’d up moments get.
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/999843780835459072
“When MJ was with the Bulls, we had a playoff game. We kept trying to score. And he was scoring, but we weren’t getting anything going.
Phil Jackson said, ‘Who’s open?’
He said, “John Paxson.”
I want you to trust your teammates early, early. What you’re doing is you’re getting to the rim, and then you’re trying to hit ’em. I want you to trust the first guy, and then move. Still attack, still look to score, but trust these guys, okay?”
TNT’s Reggie Miller and Chris Webber spoke more on the message Kerr was trying to deliver to Durant.
Twitter had plenty of reaction to the Kerr-Durant mic’d up moment.
That mic'd up Kerr clip w Durant might've been the realest thing I've seen/heard relayed to a star player during a live telecast.
— Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) May 25, 2018
Coaches on microphones in-game is usually pretty whatever. But Steve Kerr talking to Kevin Durant right there was actually pretty interesting.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) May 25, 2018
That was a great wired on Steve Kerr telling Kevin Durant the MJ-Paxson story and to trust his teammates early in a possession.
— Kevin Negandhi (@KevinNegandhi) May 25, 2018
That Steve Kerr and Kevin Durant convo was awesome. More of that please, TNT.
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) May 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/adamamin/status/999843375972081665
Steve Kerr telling Durant that great Phil Jackson-MJ story from the 1991 Finals. That never gets old and it’s amazing how Phil told MJ trust your teammates. For all the folks who love hero ball – that’s leadership too.
— Evan Barnes (@evan_b) May 25, 2018
At the time of this post, Durant has 29 points on 8-of-21 shooting from the field (10-of-10 at the line), with zero assists.
yeah, good talk…really paid off late in the game.