Mike Brown uniquely qualified to lead Kings into playoff matchup vs. Golden State Warriors
Kings coach Mike Brown is uniquely qualified to lead his team into battle against the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
No one knows this particular opponent better than Brown, who spent the past six seasons with the Warriors as Steve Kerr’s lead assistant.
“If you spend years or many seasons with a certain player, you kind of know what they like and don’t, so that’s definitely going to help us a lot,” Kings center Domantas Sabonis said.
Brown is downplaying his knowledge of the Warriors’ ways, saying the series will be decided by execution.
“At the end of the day, they’re the champions, and in my opinion, everything goes through them,” Brown said. “They’re the last team to win it and they know all about us just like we feel we know all about them. It’s about who can go out there and execute better come game time.”
The third-seeded Kings will play Game 1 in their best-of-seven series against the sixth-seeded Warriors on Saturday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The Kings are big underdogs, but Brown’s intimate knowledge of Golden State’s system and personnel could be an X-factor, and the Warriors don’t seem to be taking them lightly.
“We know it’s going to be tough,” Warriors star Stephen Curry told San Francisco media Wednesday. “They’ve been a great team all year and they’ve had a great season. Mike B. knows us well. We know him well, so the adjustments and all that stuff will be interesting throughout the series, but we want to get off to a good start.”
The Kings have reached the playoffs for the first time since 2006 in their first season under Brown, who is widely expected to be named NBA Coach of the Year. The Warriors come in as the defending NBA champions after winning their fourth title in seven years last season — three of them with Brown on the bench.
“We texted when the matchups came out,” Kerr said. “I think everybody in our building just feels so happy for Mike and strongly about what he did for us while he was here, how much he contributed to our championships here and our culture. I learned so much from Mike and it was just a great partnership, so we miss him, but we’re thrilled that he’s had this amazing season.
“I’d be shocked if he didn’t win the Coach of the Year award. He deserves it. He and his staff have been incredible, and now here we are going against each other, so you express your love for each other and then the gloves come off and you wait until after the series ends to communicate again.”
Brown isn’t the only member of the Kings coaching staff who knows the Warriors well. Kings assistant coaches Luke Loucks and Leandro Barbosa both spent time with Golden State. Loucks was there from 2016-21, working his way up from paid intern to player development coach. Barbosa played for the Warriors from 2014-16 and returned as a player mentor coach from 2020-22.
Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said Brown, Loucks and Barbosa have a wealth of knowledge about the Warriors.
“It’s a lot,” Fox said. “It’s a lot of key insight. At the end of the day, you’ve got to go out there and play, so you want to learn tendencies, and obviously their play calls, but they do so much freelancing it just comes down to how physical we are with them and not letting them just move freely throughout the court.”
When asked about facing the Warriors following Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Denver Nuggets, Kings guard Kevin Huerter and forward Harrison Barnes said they’ve already seen glimpses of Brown’s insights during the regular season.
“A little bit,” Huerter said. “Nothing too crazy. I’m sure now we’ll dial in, and going into a series against them, we’ll have a week to prepare, so I’m sure this week in practice he’ll do more.”
