Golden State Warriors Win Emotional Game 4 From Memphis Grizzlies Without Steve Kerr

SAN FRANCISCO – Golden Empire Warriors Head coach Mike Brown was preparing for a normal pregnancy when he received a call from head coach Steve Kerr.

Kerr told Brown he was unwell and that he might need Brown to train Game 4 with Memphis Grizzlies. Thirty minutes later, Kerr signed up for a positive COVID-19 test and officially empowered Brown to the pivotal game.

It was the latest bump in what was already an emotional day for the Warriors. Before, Sacramento Kings announced Brown as the team’s next head coach. Just hours earlier, the news broke Draymond GreenAdreian Payne’s college teammate and best friend was shot dead in Florida. Kerr then tested positive for COVID-19.

“It was a day of ups and downs, full of emotions,” Brown said.

“It was a tough night for us, but at this time of year you win the game of rugby. It doesn’t matter how you get there, but you win the game of ball. Oval.”

Warriors did it, beat the Grizzlies 101-98 took a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semi-final series.

But it’s not pretty. Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco compared it to a football game – that the Warriors repeatedly served their full-backs to bring them down into the red area before shooting on goal to win.

The Warriors started off slow and sloppy again. They coughed on the ball six times in the first quarter. The Grizzlies took the lead 15-8. Golden State missed their first 15 3-point attempts earlier Otto Porter Jr. finally hit a ball with 3:23 left in the first half. But the Warriors managed to keep themselves within a considerable distance.

“We were pretty frantic to start the ball games,” Brown said. “One thing I was worried about was when we forced the matter into a spin, towards their length and sportiness… but once we identified that part we got the looks. pretty.”

Warrior Protection Point Stephen the curry give your rating.

“When you go into the fourth with no attack flow and you still have three or four games, there’s some momentum behind that,” said Curry.

With just over 9 and a half minutes left to the match, the Warriors were 8 points away. But in the next three minutes, Golden State overcame Memphis 12-4. Curry scored 18 of his 32 points in the final goal, eight of which came from the free-throw line.

Although he led the game in points, Curry’s night wasn’t necessarily considered “good”, as he completed 10 of 25 shots from the floor, including 4 of 14 from off the line. 3 points. He doesn’t get much help, with Klay Thompson shoot 6/20 from the scene and Jordan Poole go 4/12. Neither Thompson nor Poole hit the 3-pointer. In fact, the Warriors have struggled to find an offensive rhythm in all of the series, with the exception of their Game 3 rampage.

“Because [Curry] “Without thinking about the past or thinking too much about it, he’s always thinking about the next thing that’s going to be positive for him, whether it’s a shot or a precise pass,” Brown said. confident because he thinks next time will play all the time. “

Although Curry was the one to fix the victory for the Warriors, Brown credited Green and Andre Iguodala – who haven’t played since Game 4 of their first series with Denver Nuggets because of a neck injury – for being the emotional leader of the team.

“I said, ‘I need you guys tonight. I’ll lean on you,'” Brown said. “Those guys were consistent the whole game. Obviously Andre on the bench, and Draymond on the floor, we found a way.”

Brown said that there wasn’t a specific talk or piece of advice either Iguodala or Green offered but it was their shared composure that resolved the Warriors’ “frenetic” start.

“To have veterans like Andre and Draymond who’ve been through the ups and downs of multiple playoff series, when they reassured people about it, it gave confidence to all of those players,” Brown said. others. “Their presence, their voices, their calm, their reassurance, all of that means a lot to our team, especially in Steve’s absence.”

Green said that channeling his emotions into the Warriors’ crunch victory was the best he could do for himself.

“It’s great to lose yourself in the game for 48 minutes,” Green told ESPN minutes after sharing a long hug with family members after the whistle. “Rest in peace, Adreian Payne. My brother, my younger brother, my college roommate, my teammate. It was a very, very emotional day, but it won’t help. It sucks. “

After Green’s performance – including his flipping the ball away Jaren Jackson Jr. when he advanced with a 3-point effort to end the game with less than 10 seconds left – his raw emotions had already begun.

He will not be speaking at a post-game press conference. He says he doesn’t want to cry in front of people, so he’s going home to record a podcast in which he can pause his recording if he feels the need to cry. But Green has announced that he and his fiancée, Hazel Renee, will be donating $100,000 to a foundation in Payne’s name to honor his legacy.

As for the Warriors, they will head to Memphis on Tuesday without Kerr, and Brown will continue to serve as head coach as they attempt to close their series with the Grizzlies in Game 5 on Wednesday.