NBA Finals: Steve Kerr not healthy enough to coach Golden State Warriors on Thursday

“As of right now, I will not coach Thursday night, It’s still up in the air," Kerr said on Monday as he sats uncomfortably and spoke to reporters before his team take on the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time in two years in the NBA Finals.

“I’m not well enough to coach games, and I know that because I coached all 82 games and I did OK,” Kerr explained. “I was uncomfortable and in a lot of pain, but I did fine. I could make it through. The first two games of the Portland series, whatever happened, things got worse. You saw me in the fourth quarter of Game 2. I could not sit still in my chair. It was that much pain. I would say that I’ve gotten a little bit better. That’s why I’m here talking to you now. But you can probably tell I’m not sitting here happy go lucky.”

Kerr, the gregarious coach, who once played as a guard for the Chicago Bulls, had time for a joke as he said, "I told the team the good news is the team is really healthy, but the bad news is the coaching staff is dropping like flies," when he told reporters that assistant Mike Brown, who took Kerr´s place on the bench, was out with illness.

The Warriors play the Cavaliers in Game 1 on Friday morning at 03:00 CET at the Oracle Arena as the Warriors look to avenge their 4-3 loss to LeBron's team in last years deciding series.