Mike Brown Digs at Gregg Popovich, Discusses Spurs Game 6 Win vs. Rockets

Golden State Warriors acting head coach Mike Brown joked he could "beat up" San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ahead of the teams' meeting in the Western Conference finals. 

Carl Steward of the Mercury News passed along comments from Brown, who continues to lead the championship contenders while Steve Kerr recovers from back problems.

"I think if I was an official I'd be intimidated," Brown said. "But nah, I think could beat Pop up. He's like 70."

On a more serious note, the former Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers coach admitted he was impressed with the Spurs road victory over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night. San Antonio won Game 6 by 39 points without Kawhi Leonard or Tony Parker to advance.

"They didn't miss a beat," Brown said. "Obviously, he's their best player and an MVP (candidate) in the NBA. Sometimes when you're missing your quote-unquote best player, I don't know if 'fear' is the right word, but you can see a little bit of uncertainness."

Star forward Kevin Durant added: "I wasn't surprised, because they're a machine. They just keep doing it, no matter who's out on the court, running that system. Somebody goes down, somebody steps in," according to the Mercury News.

ESPN's Michael C. Wright reported Leonard is expected to recover from an ankle injury in time to play Game 1 against the Warriors on Sunday. The Spurs will be forced to march on without Parker, however, who's out for the rest of the playoff run with a ruptured tendon.

That's forced the Spurs to lean more on the likes of Game 5 hero Manu Ginobili as well as Jonathon Simmons and Dejounte Murray to fill the backcourt void.

While they were good enough to overcome the Rockets, facing a star-studded Golden State squad is a completely different challenge. FiveThirtyEight lists the Warriors as 87 percent favorites to beat San Antonio and earn their third straight NBA Finals trip.

The biggest edge the Spurs hold probably comes on the sideline, especially if Kerr isn't able to return for the duration of the series. Popovich led his squad to a four-game sweep of Brown's Cavs in the 2007 Finals, and it's going to take some coaching genius to overcome the Dubs' talent advantage.