SAN FRANCISCO — Their coach sidelined again as has happened several times before, even during the playoffs, Stephen Curry took charge and led the Golden State Warriors back.
Mike Brown grabbed the clipboard as acting head coach, just like he did during a title run five years ago with Steve Kerr out.
Curry converted eight free throws over the final 45.7 seconds on the way to 32 points, leading the Warriors to a 101-98 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night and a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Curry also dished out eight assists as Golden State rallied to win without Kerr after he tested positive for COVID-19 less than two hours before tipoff.
“Obviously there’s butterflies, because again you’re going into the game with a certain mindset and it’s a big game. Every game that we play at this point in the year, it’s huge,” said Brown, who agreed Sunday to become the Sacramento Kings new coach after this postseason run.
“So to have that kind of thrown at you, you’ve got to switch gears because I know what my responsibilities are going in as Mike Brown the assistant coach, and it changes.”
But Brown has done this previously. He led the Warriors to an 11-0 record during the 2017 title run when Kerr was out dealing with debilitating symptoms from complications of back surgery two years earlier.
“His head coaching record for a Warrior playoff game I think is undefeated,” Klay Thompson said. “We did miss Steve a lot, just his voice, his presence, but we’ve been here before, 2017 when Mike took over and we rolled off a lot of wins, so I reflected on that a lot.”
Curry took charge and now his Warriors are one win from a trip to the Western…