Kawakami: Steve Kerr, Mike Brown team up in win.
OAKLAND — You wanted to see how Mike Brown handled the pressure and isolation of coaching against Gregg Popovich in the Western Conference finals, and instead it was a little different, and better, on Sunday.
Brown wasn’t actually alone, that’s why.
In Game 1, Brown led the Warriors on the court, Steve Kerr motivated them with a talk during halftime, and the two coaches — acting and healing — fused together to become a teaching, joking, rallying juggernaut.
And all of that was necessary for the Warriors to turn back Popovich and the Spurs, come back from a 25-point first-half deficit, dig out the victory behind Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry’s combined 74 points, and send Oracle Arena into periodic levitation.
This is new, uncharted two-coach territory — Kerr was able to attend a game for the first time since he watched Game 4 of the first round from the locker room, and this was the seventh game overall that he has been away from the sidelines, with Brown in charge, using Kerr’s general playbook.
Two coaches, balancing their words and influence to a team of 13 players, in the middle of this playoff pressure-cooker, up against one of the greatest coaches in NBA history.
Kerr is still out indefinitely, so this all theoretically could be unwieldy, it could be confusing,
it could lead to some missed beats and frayed emotions.
Whatever the situation and the comfort level, on Sunday the Warriors opened the game way out of sorts, couldn’t make shots, were late on some defensive rotations and before the crowd had really settled in, the Warriors were down by 10, then 15, then at one point in the second quarter the Spurs’ lead was 44-19.
Mike Brown, you’re down huge to Popovich and the Spurs on this big stage, what were you thinking?
“I just prayed,” Brown said, with a smile. Then he laughed a little and continued.
“You know, we all stay composed. We have a veteran team. I know Steve is here tonight or today and he saw things from afar that gave us a little bit of life, too, that he relayed to the group and relayed to us as a staff ...
“So with the team that we have, the veteran guys, their composure, and then the firepower, we know that we’re always going to have a chance. So that makes it easy to stay composed or calm. But we all did it.”
Kerr watched from the locker room, then, with the Warriors trailing 62-42 at halftime, after Brown addressed the team and then showed some film, Kerr gave a short speech emphasizing pace, valuing possessions and that the Warriors were far from out of this.
“Get your poise back,” Kerr told the team, in video captured by ABC. “Settle in, we’ll be all right.”
It wasn’t much different than Brown’s points to the team, but it was Kerr, the architect of the spirit and strategies, and that meant something to everybody.
Just that he was there. And, oh, they were at the time getting walloped by Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge and Popovich, so any extra edge could only help.
“I love that he’s here — it helps,” said general manager Bob Myers, who watched the first half with Kerr. “For me, I love having him around. For us, his presence is always good to have. It’s never a negative thing.”
The Warriors played with more energy and precision to start the second half, then Leonard left the game in the third quarter after re-injuring his ankle, and the Warriors immediately went on an 18-0 explosion that changed everything.
Was that all Kerr? Of course. It was Kerr and Brown and Curry and Durant (both were amazing in the second half) and the Warriors defense and the crowd and ... yes, for the Warriors players, it felt more complete just because Kerr was there.
“It was good to hear his voice; he gave us a different perspective,” Durant said of Kerr. “His message, his voice is always there. We’re hearing it through the other coaches, through the players — something he’s been preaching all season.
“He was calm. He wasn’t yelling at anybody.”
Well, Kevin, we can probably assume that Kerr was yelling just a little while he watched the Warriors get beat for loose balls and offensive rebounds and give up a lot of open shots.
“I’m sure he was,” Durant said with a smile, “but before us, he was calm and we just tried to go out there and take it a possession at a time.”
This also is a tribute to Brown’s even-keeled approach and deference to Kerr throughout this process and especially on Sunday, when he had to switch-up the rotations on the fly because Andre Iguodala was limited to only 10 minutes (and none in the second half) and because the Spurs were playing at such a high level.
Brown moved Shaun Livingston largely into the Iguodala role, especially to close the game and to draw favorable matchups against the Spurs; Brown kept center Zaza Pachulia in for the entire third quarter, which almost never happens, because Pachulia was effectively battling for the ball and then switched Pachulia onto LaMarcus Aldridge, even though that’s Green’s usual assignment, and ... it all worked.
If Brown wasn’t confident enough to coach his own game and also composed enough to let Kerr’s voice ring through everything, the Warriors might’ve fallen apart completely.
They got it together in the second half, because Brown understands that he should let players like Curry, Durant and Draymond Green take over, and because Kerr and Brown together can be very tough to beat.
“It was Game 1, either way,” Durant said of Brown’s demeanor while the Spurs built the lead. “Nobody was too tense over there.
“We definitely wanted to win — I think we were rushing a little as we were trying to come back ... But once we relaxed ... that’s what Coach kept saying, relax, take it one possession at a time, and we were able to get back into it.”
It was, in the simplest coaching terms, Brown plus Kerr vs. Popovich, and on this day, the Warriors’ tandem came out ahead.
“I’m always going to check through things with Steve,” Brown said. “He’s the head coach, we’re all going to follow his lead, no matter what.”
They got to hear from Kerr in this one, when things were not looking great, and then Brown went out and coached the Warriors through that furious rally, some rough moments in the fourth quarter, and to a 1-0 series lead.
Two coaches, one victory — yeah, that math could work about seven more times this postseason.