Brown brings own approach to bench
SALT LAKE CITY — Mike Brown’s goal as the Warriors’ acting head coach is simple: maintain the status quo.
But to continue the lockerroom culture and playing style that Steve Kerr has fostered, Brown is hardly trying to be Kerr. Over the past week, with Kerr on an indefinite hiatus from the bench to seek an answer to his chronic pain, Brown has carried out Kerr’s wishes without deviating from his own coaching style.
Kerr has undergone a spinal cord leak procedure on his back, majority owner Joe Lacob told Bloomberg. He is not with the team in Salt Lake City, and, according to multiple reports, he saw a specialist at Duke University on Friday.
“I’m not him, so I have to do it my way to a certain degree,” Brown said before Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals Saturday night. “At the same time, I have to respect the culture that Steve built here.”
Since Kerr announced before Game 3 of the first round that he was stepping away from the bench, he has consulted with Brown daily. The game plan, the practice routine, the staff meetings — they’re all a reflection of Kerr.
Of course, the execution is different under Brown. Part of the reason Kerr hired him as his lead assistant last July was because the obsessive, detailoriented Brown would help balance out the laid-back Kerr. While Kerr stresses the importance of relaxation to players, Brown has built his career on color-coded practice reports, nuanced defensive wrinkles and exhaustive scouting reports.
It is a relationship built on mutual respect. Though Brown has coached 13 years longer than Kerr, he has gleaned plenty from his new boss about communication and relationship-building.
“I’m not Steve at all,” Brown said, “but I’ve learned a lot from him.”
Hill out: Utah point guard George Hill, who was initially listed as questionable on the team injury report with a sprained left big toe, wasn’t available for the second straight game Saturday.
Though Hill worked through pregame warm-ups, the Jazz’s training staff decided it wasn’t worth him potentially aggravating the injury in Game 3.
“It’s really just more a question of his effectiveness,” Utah head coach Quin Snyder said. “He’s missed games with this over the course of the season. What happens is there are situations within the course of the game where he either lands on it or pushes off it and aggravates it, and aggravates it to a point he is not able to be effective.”
With Hill out, Shelvin Mack again started at point guard.