Steve Kerr wasn’t going to spend the entire summer being reminded of his second-round loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, especially when he was on Team USA with Lakers guard Austin Reaves.
Reaves revealed that Kerr banned his signature ‘freeze’ celebration with Team USA.
“Yeah, we talked about it. The celebration, the ‘freeze’, he said, ‘you cannot do that in USA, I have seen it too many times in the playoffs. I am sick of seeing it.’ We talked about the series and how it went. Obviously, he’s a great basketball mind and I wanted to pick his brain about the things he saw in the series. I had to kindly remind him that we won a couple of times.”
Steve Kerr outlawed the Lakers’ “freeze” celebration for Austin Reaves when he played for Team USA this summer, coming off L.A.’s playoff win over Kerr’s Warriors pic.twitter.com/LWaWSwFciG
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 13, 2023
The ‘freeze’ was a celebration pioneered by Reaves’ teammate D’Angelo Russell during his initial stint with the Lakers. He used to point to his veins and yell ‘ice in my veins’, showing he’s cold-blooded after making a big shot. Russell brought it back to the team when he joined last winter, and it’s caught on like fire.
Reaves is the most popular star regularly hitting the celebration, but even the likes of LeBron James and Anthony Davis seem to love the celebration, always joining in whenever they can. For all those reasons, it makes perfect sense for Kerr to hate it after seeing it happen constantly in a six-game series, which became his first series loss against a Western Conference team since 2014.
Steve Kerr Loves Austin Reaves’ Game
After spending as much time as they did over the summer, Kerr and Reaves both have a better appreciation for each other. The Warriors’ coach explained how much Reaves adds to a lineup, calling him a player you always want on your team instead of against you.
“He fits in wherever we put him; that’s the beauty of Austin,” Kerr said. “He’s a connector. He’s a hell of a basketball player. He’s physical, shoots and passes it. Just so poised out there all the time. He’s a guy who enhances any lineup that he plays with. Mainly, it’s just better to have him on your team than to have him on the other team. That’s what I would say about Austin. One of the fun things with this endeavor is that you really get to know guys who you’ve competed against and admired, but then you really get to know their games.”
Reaves averaged 14.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists on 45.2% from three in the Lakers’ six-game series win over the Warriors. While his numbers weren’t as impressive as one would expect, Reaves showed an ability to show up in the clutch for the Lakers.
Rob Pelinka Thinks Austin Reaves Has The ‘Mamba Gene’
Lakers GM Rob Pelinka has also put Reaves on a pedestal this summer, claiming that the Lakers guard has the ‘Mamba Gene’ in an interview before the start of training camp.
“He uniquely has that ‘Mamba Gene’, where it is all about the work, it’s about playing competitively on every play, it’s about being a great teammate, not caring about personal accolades but the team winning. He exemplifies that. His growth with Team USA, we’re proud of him but not surprised. He’s got tremendous respect from other coaches and players around the league. Everybody praises him and he doesn’t let it get to his head. He’s focused on one thing only and that’s to bring another championship to this organization, we’ll lean into that type of character.”
Pelinka has repeated this one fact before. If the former agent of Kobe Bryant is saying I have the ‘Mamba Gene’ in me, I’d run to the gym instantly to live up to that billing. It’s clear Reaves is getting ready to do that and become the Lakers’ bonafide third option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
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