Surprised Kerr isn't catching more heat for playing KD. Back in the 2003 Western Conference Finals, Don Nelson stood up to Mark Cuban who pushed Nelson to play an injured Dirk Nowitzki in game 6 against the Spurs. Nelson thought Dirk's future in the league more important than one series/one title and so vetoed Cuban/the Mavs medical staff's call to play Dirk:
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May 29, 2003, Nowitzki was medically cleared to play Game 6 of the Western Conference finals against San Antonio, eight days after spraining his left knee in Game 2.
Mavericks coach Don Nelson, however, adamantly refused to play Nowitzki in what became the series-ending Game 6 loss. Nelson told The News in 2006 that his decision "helped destroy" his relationship with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who cited then-Mavericks physician T.O. Souryal's opinion that Nowitzki didn't risk further injury by playing.
Nelson recalled to The News in 2006 that prior to Game 6, he had a heated exchange with Cuban in which he told the owner that the only way Nowitzki would take the court is if Nelson was fired on the spot.
We'll never know whether Nowitzki's knee would have held up, or whether the Mavericks would have rallied to topple the Spurs, who went on to beat New Jersey in the NBA finals.
What we're certain of is that Nowitzki led the Mavericks to the 2006 NBA finals, that he became league MVP in 2007, that he won the 2011 NBA championship as a Maverick and that he retired two months ago, having set a record for playing the most NBA seasons (21) for only one franchise.
https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas ... playoffs-1You'd think Kerr and his chief assistant Mike Brown would have recollection of Dirk not playing in that game burned in their memory:
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Whether San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich took Kerr's self-deprecation as humor or a hint, no one can say. But Popovich was out of chalk and answers in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. He would try anything, even a 37-year-old, cryonically preserved point guard whose last memorable postseason shot came in the last millennium.
Steve Kerr? Steve Kerr.
Like he does before every game, Kerr, the locker room sage, was playing one on one against assistant coach Mike Brown an hour and a half before tipoff, the way older players who do not see much playing time keep themselves in shape before they retreat to the bench for the night.
Kerr checked in with 3 minutes 44 seconds left in the third period, when the Spurs trailed by 15 points. The American Airlines Center was reverberating with noise, and Game 7 on Saturday in San Antonio seemed inevitable.
He walked off the floor less than a half-hour later, his teammates embracing him amid the wild celebration of a series-clinching, 90-78 victory.
Twelve points in 13 minutes. Four of four from behind the 3-point line, long jump shots that crushed the Dallas Mavericks' season and sent the largest crowd in franchise history shuffling toward the exits, mumbling ''Steve Kerr?'' to their friends and spouses. When it was over, San Antonio had advanced to its second N.B.A. finals in five years, and Kerr had pulled an heirloom from the attic, magic from his fingertips, circa the mid-1990's when he played with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/30/spor ... spurs.html
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