Kings-Warriors playoff notes: Mike Brown would rather match wits against youth coach than Kerr
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Sacramento Kings in the Playoffs
Kings playoffs have arrived! Here’s everything you need to know.
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Mike Brown was in good spirits before each of the first two games of the Kings-Warriors playoff series at Golden 1.
Before Game 1, the first-year Kings coach said he found the time to get his car washed, trying to make it a normal day. On Monday night, Brown discussed everything from game energy to matchups, right down to facing his old friend in Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
Asked by James Ham of ESPN1320 if he revels in this chess match, Brown pounced.
“So, my partner, her daughter plays with the 8th grade girls at Rolling Hills (Middle School),” Brown said with a broad grin, adding, “I’d rather have a chess match with her coach in El Dorado Hills than against Steve Kerr.”
The media room burst into laughter. Brown added, “It’s obviously great fun (coaching against Kerr), trying to compete at the highest level with the reigning NBA champions, and Steve is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”
Brown was quick to remind that the team at Rollings Hills was “great” and “she’s a great coach there, a great coach. They made the playoffs.”
The Kings, meanwhile, are living large in these playoffs, taking this one 114-106 for a 2-0 series lead.
Tattoo you
There are fans and there are superfans such Ian Kappos, who delivered on a promise to friends that he would get a tattoo of a jubilant Brown splashed across his calf if the Kings reached the playoffs after a 17-year drought. He did in the spit image of the grinning coach.
Asked about that commitment to get inked, Brown was equal parts flattered and flabbergasted.
“Man, that was interesting,” he said. “You know, I wish my partner would have done it. I told her (about the tattoo) and she sent me something back with a tattoo with her name on it. She said if you do it first. I don’t know. It was an honor (the fan did that), and one day, I’d like to meet him. But I don’t know about putting my mug on anybody’s body. It ain’t pretty.”
What rivalry?
Years ago, Los Angeles Lakers greats Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were often asked what they thought of the Kings-Lakers rivalry. The stars wondered what rivalry since the Lakers never lost to Sacramento in the playoffs.
Kerr before Game 2 was asked about this Kings-Warriors Northern California rivalry.
“It’s fun for the fans,” Kerr said, adding, “it can’t be a rivalry if there’s only one playoff game, ever (between the teams) in the history of the two franchises. So it’s not a rivalry. It’s kind of a fun series for both fan bases to have everything within 80 miles of each other.
Crusty Klay
Warriors star Klay Thompson can wear quite the game face, in games and the day after them. He did after Game 1’s loss to the Kings and carried it into Game 2.
“Even though he can appear happy go lucky and everybody enjoys watching him on his boat or with his dog or whatever,” Kerr said. “The guy’s a gamer. He’s a fighter. He’s a competitor. He takes losses and poor performances as hard as anybody. You don’t become a four-time champion and Hall of Fame player just because you can shoot. You become that player because of who you are as a human being, a fighter, worker, competitor. That’s who Klay is.”
Stalling Steph
It’s easier said than done: Slow down Steph Curry, the greatest shooter in NBA history, a guy who works tirelessly without the ball, zipping from here to there to get the ball.
Brown knows Curry well from their time together at Golden State, and he said slowing down Curry is more myth than reality.
“You’re not going to stop him,” Brown said. “He’s a Hall of Famer and changed the game of basketball, so we’re going to try to throw different looks at him. Try like heck to give your best effort and try not to fail, because he’s fantastic. Just have to live with the results.”
The Kings lived with the results just fine after Game 2, one in which Curry made just 3 of 13 3-pointers and had 28 points.
This story was originally published April 17, 2023 at 7:40 PM.
