Steve Kerr pays respect to the Lakers after they eliminate his Warriors from the playoffs

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Ever since Steve Kerr took over as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors in 2014, they have become a legitimate dynasty.

At the time, they were a good young team that had trouble advancing in the playoffs, but Kerr took the chains off the team and unleashed them offensively while making them into an elite defensive team. The result was four NBA championships and an undefeated record in Western Conference playoff series.

But on Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers ended that streak of being undefeated in Western Conference playoff series by knocking them out of the second round. The Lakers did so with an impressive 122-101 dismantling of the Warriors in Game 6 on Friday.

Afterward, Kerr, unprompted, started his postgame press conference by paying respect to the team that had ended his squad’s season and possibly its dynasty.

“First of all, I want to congratulate the Lakers. They played a hell of a series — great, great team. I want to congratulate Darvin [Ham] and his staff — I thought they coached a brilliant series. Darvin has done an amazing job this year in his rookie year as a coach. He’s pretty much seen it all, and you can see his poise and just his nature on the sidelines — how important that’s been for their team, given everything they’ve been through to get to this point… LeBron and AD (Anthony Davis) are just brilliant players, they controlled the series… The better team won.”

Lakers fans complained when Kerr complained that some of L.A.’s players were allegedly flopping in order to get illegal screens called against his team. However, that type of gamesmanship is something NBA coaches have been doing for decades.

Kerr is one of the most likable figures in the league, and he is clearly a class act in both victory and defeat.

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