SAN FRANCISCO — Coaching in the NBA playoffs is anything but easy.
Just ask Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown, who stepped into the Warriors’ head coaching role when Steve Kerr was out with COVID during Golden State’s semifinal series with the Grizzlies.
“Steve, if you’re watching, get healthy quick,” Brown implored Kerr after Game 4 of that series.
It was half a well wish to his friend and colleague, and half a comically tinged cry for help. The Warriors did trail by as many as 55 points the following game.
In the regular season, head coaches can keep their eyes on the big picture. Every squad is “building for something” — though that something is oftentimes never declared, much less achieved.
But in the playoffs, that wide perspective must be maintained, all while every second must be managed.
In the postseason, the smallest decisions have big consequences — both good and bad — and there’s no quarter for the coaches who make those calls.
Yes, being a head coach in the NBA playoffs is often a thankless job.
But after the Warriors’ Game 2 win over the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals, it feels like an appropriate time for Warriors fans to send some thanks Kerr’s direction.
The Warriors have a 2-0 lead because of the great play of Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney, yes, but credit must be given to Kerr, too, for pressing all the right buttons in this series.
The Warriors’ defensive game plan — managed by Brown, it should be noted — has been nerve-racking but effective. Dallas is tiring out as the game progresses, leaving the Warriors opportunities to blitz them in the second half.
On the offensive side, Kerr’s motion offense has proven to be the perfect antidote to Dallas’ no-big matchup zone. The Warriors’ back screens and cuts have carved up the Mavericks in the first two contests.
But it was the bold decision Kerr made in Game 2 that I think should bring about the most kudos.
There’s no question that Kerr prefers the Warriors’ veterans at this juncture of the season. Vets know the system, know the stakes and know-how to get their job done. I’d trust them over some kids, too.
And while Damion Lee was not the Warriors’ first choice to play on the wing with the Warriors’ second unit — that would have been the injured Andre Iguodala — it made sense why he was on the court in Games 1 and 2. He could space the floor with his 3-point shot and put the ball on the hardwood a bit, too. Plus, he has shown flashes of being a solid team defender before with the Warriors.
None of those positive things showed up for Lee in Game 2, though.
There were several bad players on the floor for the Warriors in the first half of that game — Draymond Green and Klay Thompson amongst them — but Lee was arguably the worst.
He played for fewer than 5 minutes. The Mavericks outscored the Warriors by 12 during that stretch.
Lee’s minutes were a huge part of why the Warriors were trailing by as many as 19 points in the contest. Why a win felt distant at best for the Warriors.
Facing that kind of deficit, Kerr did not panic. Nor did the Warriors’ veterans. Having stuck to the game plan, by the end of the third quarter, the Warriors were right back in the contest.
That’s when Kerr made a big, bold move.
He went with a kid — Moses Moody — over the veteran, Lee.
Kerr could have blown up the Warriors’ rotation to start the fourth quarter. He could have felt the pressure of the moment and tried to carry the Warriors’ third-quarter momentum into the beginning of the fourth by continuing to play his top guys at the top of the frame.
Forgive me for thinking that would have failed. If it would not have been a problem to start the fourth quarter, it almost certainly would have been a factor late. Even the best-trained athletes need some rest.
Kerr stuck with his second unit to start the fourth quarter, with Moody in the lineup instead of Lee.
The move worked so well that Curry was able to stay on the bench until there were fewer than 400 seconds remaining in the game. That’s a huge amount of rest, and it paid off.
The Warriors also turned a two-point deficit into an eight-point lead when Curry re-entered the game.
It was an outstanding shift for the 19-year-old Moody, who wasn’t flashy but proved wholly competent inside the Warriors’ systems.
That alone made him a massive upgrade over the freelancing Lee on Friday.
But Kerr stuck with Moody after Curry returned to the contest. The rookie played 80% of the final frame.
And the more he played, the better he played.
There were multiple positive defensive plays: A deflection, a well-contested shot, effective rotations.
He also set fantastic screens on the offensive end, he even put the ball on the floor and scored, with contact, at the basket.
There’s a world where playing the rookie backfires — that he looks even worse than Lee. After all, these are the biggest minutes Moody has played at the NBA level — Kerr tossed him, cold, into the fourth quarter of a conference finals game.
But it was the right call. Ignore the validating outcome — a change need to be made and Kerr was willing to make it.
Good coaching cannot be passive. It’s one thing for Kerr to call an exceptionally early timeout after two minutes of play, as he did Friday.
It’s another to have a 19-year-old prepared to play in the fourth quarter of a pivotal playoff game and to then call on him.
Kerr said after Game 2 they liked the idea of Moody because of his size and the quality of his play in the regular season against the Mavericks.
“He’s poised,” Kerr said of Moody. “Moses has a real calm about him. He doesn’t seem like a 19-year-old rookie. … We kind of had Moses in mind for this series, and it felt like the right time to play him.”
This series will no doubt demand more tough calls. Green’s foul trouble directly coincided with the Warriors’ good play Friday but that’s unlikely to be the case moving forward. How Kerr handles that could be the difference between two games in Dallas or three.
Moody will likely come back down to earth in Game 3, too. Will Kerr quickly return to the veteran, Lee, or will he let the young wing figure things out, on the fly, with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line?
I’m fascinated to see if that comes to pass.
But the bottom line is this: Kerr has been a massive advantage for the Warriors over the last two games.
It’s almost as if this guy knows what he’s doing on the sidelines.
