Warriors coach Steve Kerr has a routine every time he’s back in Chicago. It includes visiting Second City if he has a night off in his schedule.
This trip was a bit different, however. The Warriors had a night off Saturday, but instead of a stop at the famous comedy club, Kerr, some members of his coaching staff and forward Draymond Green drove to Aurora for a hockey game.
‘‘Macklin Celebrini is the son of our performance director, Rick Celebrini, and he plays for the Chicago Steel,’’ Kerr said. ‘‘He’s a rising hockey prospect and potential future NHL player. A group of us went out there and watched him play. It was fantastic.’’
Every time Kerr returns to the city where he spent five seasons of his 15-year career and won three NBA championships (1996-98), it’s special. He credits his time playing on those championship teams with shaping whom he is now as a championship-winning coach.
‘‘Playing in Chicago and with the Spurs — seeing Tim Duncan, David Robinson, [Gregg] Popovich, looking at Phil [Jackson] and Michael [Jordan] and Scottie [Pippen] and seeing those relationships — those were really important experiences for me to see that coach/star relationship dynamic,’’ Kerr said. ‘‘Those experiences absolutely helped inform the kind of coach I would become.’’
The Bulls’ game Sunday against the Warriors was the last on their schedule before the team flies abroad for a game Thursday against the Pistons in Paris. It will be the third time the Bulls will play in Paris and the second regular-season NBA game there. (The first featured the Hornets and Bucks in 2020.)
The last time the Bulls played in Paris — two preseason games in 1997 — Kerr was on the team.
‘‘It was fantastic,’’ Kerr said. ‘‘So much fun. We were hit pretty hard with injuries. I don’t think Scottie or Dennis [Rodman] went or played. It was Michael and a bunch of scrubs.
‘‘Just being in Paris for five days, everyone brought their wife or significant other. It was a pretty unique experience to go to Paris at the height of the Bulls’ heyday.’’
Kerr remembers the Bulls getting stopped in the street and the huge crowd that attended the game. The game against the Pistons at Accor Arena won’t have the same star power.
Different stories
After the Bulls’ loss Friday to the Thunder, guard Zach LaVine concluded his media interview with a cryptic comment about a torn ligament in his hand.
‘‘You drive the ball when you can’t shoot; that’s what happens when you have a torn ligament,’’ LaVine said before walking away.
In the wake of LaVine’s comments, the Bulls said he doesn’t have a torn ligament. Coach Billy Donovan addressed the issue for the first time Sunday.
‘‘He had some pretty significant swelling,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I think maybe it was after the Washington game [Wednesday]. They got that under control and did imaging. Nothing major, but just on the knuckle of his shooting hand that he’ll have to manage.’’
So LaVine doesn’t have a torn ligament?
‘‘I have not heard a torn ligament, no,’’ Donovan said.
DeRozan update
Forward DeMar DeRozan missed his third consecutive game with a strained right quad. Donovan expressed optimism about him bouncing back after the Bulls’ game in Paris, given the extra days between games in their schedule.
‘‘He knows his body really well,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I’ve said this before: It is a strain; there is no tear. So it’s not a long-term thing. But you don’t want to have something where he’s coming back too soon and then he reaggravates it or it’s injured more severely and you’re missing more time.
‘‘When he gets back, I don’t know. But without question, that period of time will help him in terms of the healing process.’’
