Mike Brown had an eventful Monday.
Shortly after the Sacramento Kings hired him as their new head coach, the Golden State Warriors assistant was called on to coach Game 4. In place of Steve Kerr, who tested positive for COVID-19, Brown oversaw a 101-98 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Golden State prevailed despite shooting 9-of-37 from three-point range, including 10 long-distance misses from Stephen Curry.
Right after their victory, Curry struggled to process the unusual day.
“Talk about historically bad shooting, a lot of history was made,” Curry said. “He was named head coach twice [in] 24 hours. I feel like we got traded to the Kings overnight. I don’t know how to explain all of this.”
“I felt like we got traded to the Kings overnight.”@StephenCurry30 joked with @JaredSGreenberg after Mike Brown stepped in as head coach for the Game 4 win. pic.twitter.com/SjxnVAXFoi
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 10, 2022
Perhaps adding to his confusion, the Kings reportedly chose Brown over Curry’s former head coach, Mark Jackson.
The Warriors overcame poor shooting by making 20 of 22 free-throw attempts to beat the Grizzlies (without Ja Morant) at home. While they know better than anyone that a 3-1 lead isn’t unbreakable, they’ll have three chances to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
According to Shams Charania, Kerr is not expected to coach Game 5 on Wednesday night and could miss the rest of the series. Curry will have to remember he doesn’t play for the Kings when seeing Brown on the sideline.