Pain to keep Warriors’ Kerr out indefinitely
Out for Game 4, could miss rest of postseason
The head coach, left, will miss Monday night’s playoff Game 4 against the Trail Blazers in Portland, and no timetable has been set for his return as he deals with health problems.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Steve Kerr watched the Warriors’ Game 3 win Saturday night with his son, Nick, at their hotel suite in downtown Portland.
Whenever he told Nick that it was time for a substitution, the elder Kerr immediately saw the player in question shamble to mid-court and check in. It was a repeated reminder that Mike Brown, the interim head coach with Kerr sidelined by nagging pain, is a worthy substitute.
“Mike and I are thinking along the same lines,” Kerr said Sunday afternoon. “He knows what he’s doing. The team’s in great hands, regardless.”
The question now is how long Brown will fill in. After Kerr’s symptoms worsened over the past five days, he an-
nounced Sunday that he will miss Game 4 on Monday as he tries to find a solution for his discomfort. It is possible that he will be out for the remainder of Golden State’s title pursuit.
Though he is taking an indefinite hiatus from in-game coaching, Kerr will stay involved with the team by breaking down video, chatting with players and advising Brown. It is a behind-the-scenes role Kerr became familiar with when he missed the first 43 games of last season because of problems stemming from back surgery.
He has tried everything from painkillers to yoga to medicinal marijuana to alleviate his chronic pain. They have provided little relief.
In the regular season, as the Warriors became the first team in NBA history to win at least 65 games for a third straight year, Kerr endured intense migraines and searing pain behind his eyes. Outside of missing a morning shootaround March 2 in Chicago with a stomach bug, he attended every practice or game.
Kerr has dealt with severe head and neck pain in recent days, according to a source. It had him in such a daze that, late in Wednesday night’s Game 2 win over Portland at Oracle Arena, he broke NBA rules by removing his suit jacket.
During his post-practice media session Friday, Kerr repeatedly shifted his body in his chair, rubbed his head and grimaced. On Saturday afternoon, roughly four hours after Kerr was absent from the shootaround, the team announced that he would miss Game 3.
“With things getting worse, I just made the decision I couldn’t coach,” said Kerr, who attended Golden State’s voluntary workout Sunday morning. “As of now, I’m consulting with my doctors, I’m hoping for some improvement. If I can get some improvement, I’ll get back on the sidelines. But I’m not going to do that unless I know I can help the team.”
Knowing that he has a capable fill-in helps ease the sting of stepping away from in-game coaching. Kerr hired Brown in July to replace Luke Walton as his lead assistant, in part because Brown could serve as interim head coach if necessary.
Brown’s resume includes stints leading the Cavaliers (2005-10, 2013-14) and Lakers (2011-12). During those stops, he coached in 83 playoff games, including four in the 2007 NBA Finals in which the Cavs were swept by San Antonio. In 2009, after guiding Cleveland to 66 regular-season wins, Brown was named NBA Coach of the Year. His former players include LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and familiar faces Matt Barnes and Luke Walton.
One of his more daunting tests yet came Saturday. Only hours after learning he would step in for Kerr, Brown was tasked with shepherding a Kevin Durant-less Warriors team in front of a raucous Moda Center crowd. The desperate Blazers, down 2-0 in the series, had center Jusuf Nurkic in the lineup for the first time since March 30.
By most measures, Brown excelled. Early in the third quarter, with Golden State down 16 points, he subbed in Andre Iguodala for Zaza Pachulia. Little more than two minutes later, Brown brought in JaVale McGee and kept Draymond Green on the floor. The high-octane, attacking lineup sparked the Warriors’ game-changing comeback.
“He was thrown into the fire, didn’t find out he was coaching until today,” Green said after the game. “To make decisions like that, in a hostile environment, about to lose Game 3, that’s pretty big time.”
During a team meeting Saturday morning, Kerr told his players not to make the game about his situation. Stephen Curry didn’t listen. After the final buzzer sounded on Golden State’s Game 3 victory, the two-time reigning MVP grabbed the game ball to hand to Kerr.
Moments later, Curry told ESPN’s J.A. Adande, “We felt that the way the game had gone, we had to fight and do it for Coach.”
Kerr, watching on his hotel TV, chuckled. It was a lighthearted moment for a man who struggles being apart from his team.
“None of this has been easy,” Kerr said. “I sat in my hotel room with my son, we watched the game and we were thrilled with the outcome. Still, it’s tough to miss out on the joy and the fun.”