OAKLAND — Warriors head coach Steve Kerr’s long list of connections within the Spurs organization grew this year, as his son, Nick, took a job as a Spurs film assistant. With the onset of the first-round playoff series between the Spurs and Warriors, plenty of jokes surrounded Kerr vs. Kerr dynamic.
No longer.
Before the teams squared off in Game 2 Monday night, both Kerr and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich agreed to cut the jokes regarding Nick.
“He’s embarrassed by it,” Kerr said. “He doesn’t want any attention. He loves his team. He’s dying to win. He’s dying to beat us, just like were dying to beat them. He’s unbelievably loyal to (Popovich) and to the players, and I couldn’t be more proud of him. He doesn’t want any of this attention, so I think the jokes may be over. We got to move past that. Poor guy.”
Prior to Golden State’s 113-92 win over San Antonio in Game 1, Popovich said he conducted a mock vote among the Spurs determining whether Nick would be allowed in the film room. Back in November, Popovich said he pats Nick down every day after work.
As Popovich, one of the most entertaining interviewees in sports, pointed out, there’s a limit to humor.
“Nick is an intellectually gifted and wonderful young man, and we don’t want to make it a characterization,” Popovich said. “He’s working his butt off in the film room to try to help us any way we can to beat his father and the Warriors. A little bit of humor was good, but we don’t want to take it too far. It gets old.”