MY ACCOUNT
Stephen Curry hailed Mike Brown’s input after the Golden State Warriors moved 3-1 ahead in their Western Conference semi-final series duel with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Brown, who has agreed to become the Sacramento Kings’ next head coach, is seeing out his final weeks as assistant with the Warriors and stepped up on Monday when Steve Kerr tested positive for COVID-19 and was ruled out of Game 4 duties.
Curry joked Brown was setting trends, after being made head coach of two teams in such quick succession.
The Warriors were held to just 38 points in the first half, but Curry stepped up, scoring 18 of his 32 points in the final quarter, including eight consecutive clutch free throws in the final minute as his team edged ahead and clung on to a narrow lead.
“It’s been a wild day all round. You just had to figure it out on the fly,” Curry said after the 101-98 win.
“We’ve been through this before. In ’16-17 the coach had his back problems back in the day when he was out of the line-up but still had an influence, and Mike B stepped up.
“We didn’t have a lot of time to react. We went out and tried to execute. We obviously didn’t for three quarters. Defensively we were solid, but offensively we couldn’t get anything going, and we gutted it out.”
Curry became the first player to reach 500 three-pointers in NBA playoffs during the narrow win.
Brown’s move to Sacramento was only agreed on Sunday and will take effect once the playoffs are over. With Warriors head coach Kerr sidelined, Brown kept the team moving closer to the Western Conference Finals.
“He had a lot of good words tonight,” said Curry. “I don’t know in history if anyone’s been named head coach of two teams in 24 hours, so he’s continued to set some trends.
“He’s been through it all, been with us for this last six years, been interim coach for a little bit and made his presence felt, especially defensively.”
