Kerr staying close to Warriors
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr was at the United Center before Wednesday's game, but the job of coaching the Warriors during games remains with interim coach Luke Walton.
Kerr, who played on the Bulls' 1996-98 championship teams, took time off at the start of the season to recover from a spinal-fluid leak. The problem first occurred when Kerr had surgery to repair a herniated disk on July 28.
Once the fluid leak was diagnosed, Kerr had an additional surgery Sept. 4. He has not coached this season but is picking up his activity.
"(Kerr is participating) more and more, the further we go into the season," Walton said before Wednesday's game. "It's daily talks, now that he's with us on the road. It's matchup, it's bouncing ideas off each other. Besides being the coach on the bench during he game, he's very much involved in the decisions and prep work."
The Warriors have not announced any plan or timetable for Kerr to step back in as head coach.
"I hope that it happens soon," Walton said. "But me and the rest of the staff have to keep preparing like it's not going to happen, just so that we're ready to do our jobs. But we are hopeful that he'll be back soon."
Warriors talk 72 wins:
With the Warriors in Chicago, it's natural to think about their chances of reaching the Bulls' record of 72 wins in a season, set in 1995-96. At 38-4, Golden State is one game off the Bulls' pace.
"That's good company to be in," Warriors guard Klay Thompson said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "That's arguably the greatest team of all time. Just to be in the same conversation and to be part of history like them, it's special.
"If we're close to it, we'll probably obviously want to break it. It's something no one thought would ever be done. That's a long ways away, though."
Warriors interim coach Luke Walton didn't sound optimistic about his team's chances.
"I didn't realize how truly impressive it was until I got to the NBA and saw how hard and long the season is and how much more there is to winning games," Walton said. "I told myself that I thought that record would never be touched."
Bulls selling jerseys:
Wednesday's game featured the NBA's two most popular teams in terms of jersey sales. Golden State ranks No. 1 and the Bulls are second, according to the league.
In terms of individual players, the Bulls have two of the top 10. Derrick Rose ranks sixth, while Jimmy Butler appeared on the list for the first time at 10th.
The top five players in jersey sales are Steph Curry, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, New York Knicks rookie Kristaps Prozingis and Kevin Durant.
Bull horns:
The Bulls held a moment of silence in honor of former assistant coach Johnny Bach, who died this week at 91. Bach was head coach of the Warriors from 1983-86, as well as a portion of the 1979-80 season. … Steve Kerr took his coaching staff to Second City on Tuesday. "It was something Steve said he'd been doing for years, even when he played here and he used to bring his TNT staff to the shows," Luke Walton said. "We had a great time."