Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr missed the final two games of the team's first-round sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers due to chronic back pain that has been plaguing him for the past two years, and it appears he will be out for much longer.
Assistant coach Mike Brown has taken over as interim head coach in Kerr's absence and will do so again in Game 1 of their conference semifinals series against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday.
And, though there currently is no timetable for his return, the players don't expect Kerr to be back at all this postseason.
“The way we look at it is — plan on him not coming back,” Draymond Green said, via the San Jose Mercury news. “That’s the way we’re approaching this thing. We’re not going to sit here and say if we can get to the Conference Finals, Steve may be back for the Conference Finals or if we get to the Finals…Nah. Mike Brown is our coach, we have the rest of our staff and that’s what we’re rolling with. We’re going to hope and pray that Steve gets better and can get back, but at the end of the day, his health is more important than anything. We’re here in support of him. We know how bad he wants to be here and we’d love for him to be here. But he has to take care of what he has to take care of — whether that’s this year or next year he’s back, we’re ready.
“I think it’s a lot easier to adjust to, oh, Steve’s back on the bench as opposed to play with your mental and wonder ‘Is Steve coming back? When is Steve coming back?' It’s too much. Just focus on what we have here. It’s like a player going down. One guy goes down, other guy has to step up. That’s what you do, adjust to that other guy who gets added to the lineup and play.”
Kerr still takes part in coaching meetings and talks with Brown on a daily basis, but is not around the team.
Kerr missed the first half of last season recovering from two offseason back surgeries, and there is a chance that his coaching career could be over after this year.
The Warriors are 41-4 in games without Kerr over the last two seasons.
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