Ethan Sears
Can Mike Brown be trusted making decisions in crunch-time?
Brown said that Steve Kerr could return to the Warriors’ sideline for the Finals. But for now, it looks like he’ll be the decision-maker, at least for the start of the series.
Kerr’s crunch-time record isn’t perfect (see Varejao, Anderson), but he’s generally considered one of the best coaches in the league. And rightly so. His adjustments played a huge role in Golden State winning the 2015 Finals, and he’s done an incredible job managing a room chock full of egos.
Brown, however, is largely untested on such a big stage. He’s coached only one close game since taking over for Kerr and has a poor reputation for strategy from his prior jobs in Cleveland and Los Angeles. It’s not as if there are big questions about what lineup the Warriors should play in a close game, or that it’s likely Brown changes any strategy without input from Kerr, who’s still involved behind the scenes. But little things, like clock management or shifting the rotation if Cleveland takes advantage of the Warriors’ consistent substitution patterns, will be up to him.
In a tight game, does Brown go for a 2-for-1? What does it look like when he has to draw up a game-winning play? In a close game, things like that could be the difference, and we don’t really know what Brown is going to do.
