If Doc Rivers had any advice for Steve Kerr, it would probably be to forget about Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry at the All-Star Game.
Worry about making Russell Westbrook happy, instead.
Rivers said his strategy when he coached the midseason game was to make sure the guys who could beat him later weren’t mad at him, even at the expense of playing time for his own players.
“I made sure they loved me, the other ones,” Rivers said. “I knew my guys liked me. That was not my concern.”
Kerr will coach the Western Conference in Sunday’s game in New Orleans, and his team includes four of his own Golden State players and Westbrook. Judging by the way Durant and Westbrook barked at each other Saturday when the Warriors played in Oklahoma City for the first time since Durant switched teams over the summer, it’s clear some icy feelings remain.