Golden State Warriors

#TBT: 20 years ago, Michael Jordan passed to Steve Kerr to win his fifth ring

Published Jun. 1, 2017 4:38 p.m. ET

Andre Vergara

Move over, Michael Jordan. Steve Kerr is becoming something of an NBA Finals legend, a six-time champion leading the Golden State Warriors to the championship series in each of his first three seasons as a head coach.

Kerr, who won three titles with the Bulls and two with the Spurs as a player, coached the Warriors to the championship in his first season in Golden State and came up just short last year. Now he'll try for a seventh ring, though he hasn't been healthy enough to coach on the sideline for most of the playoffs due to back problems.

But 20 years ago Kerr was a Bulls sharpshooter and one of the best three-point marksmen in the game. And with Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals on the line, even Jordan deferred to Kerr to deliver the Bulls' second straight title and the fifth of MJ's career.

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/869029184051585024

Kerr shot 51.5 percent on threes that season but he smartly drifted inside the key as the Jazz doubled Jordan, who'd hit a Game 1 winner over Bryon Russell. Then MJ faked a pass to Toni Kukoc to freeze Jeff Hornacek, leaving Kerr wide open for the winner.

It was the crowning moment from a Finals that also gave us one of the best bits of trash talk in NBA history.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/870327852197191680