The perfect quest continues
Warriors take 3-0 lead in series
CLEVELAND - The chance for a 16-0 romp through the playoffs is still alive for the Golden State Warriors.
Kevin Durant scored 31 points and Klay Thompson added 30 as the Warriors beat the Cavaliers, 118-113, on Wednesday to take a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals Game 4 is Friday night. Durant hit the go-ahead three-pointer for a 114-113 lead with 45 seconds remaining in the game.
Brown back in Cleveland: Mike Brown happily slid into his normal seat to coach Steve Kerr’s left for Game 2 of the NBA Finals. For the first time in weeks the Warriors were whole again.
Brown has moved before — not always so willingly.
Golden State’s well-liked top assistant, whose first two stints as a head coach were to nurture a young LeBron James and then pamper Kobe Bryant, is back in Cleveland, the city that shaped him more than any other.
It’s where he was hired twice and fired twice by the Cavaliers, who are paying him until 2020. It’s where he raised his two sons. It’s where he rooted himself in the community and stayed after losing his job in 2014. And it’s where he still has a home and keeps one of his Harleys, which he took for cruises along Lake Erie to clear his mind.
“He loves those Harleys,” said Warriors forward Draymond Green. “That just means he has ‘em in every city he goes to. That’s an addiction.”
Brown was back in a building where he and James appeared in their first Finals together 10 years ago.
In 2007, the Cavs were no
match for the powerful San Antonio Spurs, who overwhelmed Cleveland and swept the series. Brown can surely appreciate the irony in coming back as part of a juggernaut.
“Circle of life,” Brown said last week. “Like the ‘Lion King,’ everything comes back around, I guess.”
Brown’s Finals debut must seem like a lifetime ago for the 47-yearold, who guided the Warriors to an 11-0 mark in this postseason while Kerr battled intense pain stemming from back surgeries.
“My guy did OK while I was gone,” Kerr said before the Warriors won Sunday night.
During last year’s Finals in Cleveland, Brown met with Kerr about joining the Warriors staff and replacing Luke Walton, who was bound for the Los Angeles Lakers. The interview came before the Cavs rallied from a 3-1 deficit, and before Kevin Durant announced he was headed to the Bay Area.
After he was fired for the second time by the Cavs, Brown had stepped outside the coaching circle, choosing instead to watch oldest son Elijah play hoops at New Mexico and filming his other son Cameron’s Friday night high school football games. All the while, he stayed connected by talking with San Antonio coach
Gregg Popovich, his mentor and former boss.
Popovich urged him to join Kerr.
Brown’s willingness to accept an assistant’s job despite 563 career regular-season wins and 47 in the playoffs underscores his humility. But that’s Brown: unassuming, ego-less, the consummate teammate.
And while he hasn’t strayed from preparation and the attention he learned growing up in a military family, Brown has shown a willingness to change. He has loosened up. With the Warriors, he had no choice.
Borrowing philosophies from other coaches, Kerr has created a loose atmosphere, believing a less-structured environment allows players to perform more freely and effectively.