Golden State coach Don Nelson has been diagnosed with pneumonia and did not accompany the Warriors on their upcoming road trip, which includes games at Dallas on Tuesday and at San Antonio on Wednesday.Assistant coach Keith Smart will coach the team in Nelson's stead.
The Warriors have been hit hard by injury and illness this season, and needed assistant coaches Russ Turner and Rico Hines to participate in practice on Monday just to give the team eight healthy bodies.
Kelenna Azubuike (left knee), Raja Bell (wrist), Andris Biedrins (abdominal muscle), Speedy Claxton (left knee), Devean George (left knee), Ronny Turiaf (left knee), C.J. Watson (H1N1 virus), Brandan Wright (shoulder) are all out for Tuesday's game against the Mavericks.
The Warriors were granted a hardship exception on Friday to sign center Chris Hunter, which allows the team to carry a 16th man. Still, they will likely have just eight players for the two Texas games.
Smart has served as the Warriors' head coach before, the most recent time being a preseason game against the L.A. Lakers. Smart also served as the team's head coach in two of the final three regular-season games last year.
"If I had never coached any of the games before, it would be like 'OK, this is an opportunity,' " Smart said. "But for me, because it's been that way since the day he got here, I already know what I'm supposed to do. I don't look at it any other way because we've done it this way for a long period of time."
Nelson is just 20 wins away from overtaking Lenny Wilkens as the NBA's all-time winningest coach. If Smart guides the Warriors to a victory in any of the next two games, Nelson will still be credited with the win on his coaching record.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
This should lead to some road wins for GSW.