In the lead up to their respective team's meeting in the Western Conference Finals. Mike Brown, the current acting head coach of the Golden State Warriors jokingly said he could beat up Gregg Popovich coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
Mercury News' Carl Steward took note of the comments made by Mike Brown who is still coaching the title contending Golden State Warriors as Steve Kerr is still recovering from back surgery.
Mike Brown speaks on his relationship with Coach Pop
"I think on the off chance that I was an official I would be threatened," Brown said.
"However, Nah, I believe could pummel Pop. He resembles 70." On a more important topic, the former coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers admits that the road victory that the Spurs achieved on Thursday night against the Rockets was impressive. Game six was decided by a margin of 39 points, and it should be of note that the Spurs advance without Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard.
"They did not overlook anything," Brown said. "Clearly, he is their best player and an MVP (competitor) in the NBA. In some cases when you are feeling the loss of your quote-unquote best player, I do not know whether "dread" is the correct word, yet you can see a tad bit of uncertainness."
Star forward Kevin Durant included: "I was not shocked because they are a machine.
They only continue doing it, regardless of who's out on the court, running that framework. Some individual goes down someone ventures in," as per the Mercury News.
The Spurs will face a whole new challenge with the Warriors
Michael C.Wright of ESPN pointed out that Kawhi Leonard is expected to play Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Sunday and will fully recover from his ankle injury in time.
Tony Parker, however, will be out for the rest of the playoffs with a ruptured tendon and the Spurs will have to adjust their rotation accordingly.
In his place, it will likely be Game 5 hero Manu Ginobili as well as Dejounte Murray and Johnathon Simmons to fill the hole that Tony Parker left in the backcourt.
Even though the Spurs managed to get past the Rockets facing a Warriors team with four all-stars will be a challenge on a whole new level.
The Warriors are listed by FiveThirtyEight as 87 percent favorites to earn their third straight NBA Finals appearance beating the Spurs in the process.
Arguably the biggest advantage the Spurs will have this series will be on the sidelines barring if Steve Kerr pulls off a miraculous return this series. Popovich has beaten Brown before in a playoff series leading his squad to a sweep of the 2007 Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. It will take some excellent coaching to beat this star-studded Warriors team.
