PORTLAND, Ore. — Even in the grind of the playoffs, Terry Stotts found time to send his 79-year-old mother a hand-written Mother’s Day card.
“It had a stamp and everything,” the Trail Blazers head coach said before practice Sunday.
This detail-oriented approach is the foundation of his success as an in-game manager. Though not as flashy as Damian Lillard’s 40 points, Stotts’ on-the-fly adjustments helped power Portland’s convincing win Saturday over the Warriors in Game 3.
It reinforced why the only man who finished ahead of Stotts last month for NBA Coach of the Year was Golden State’s Steve Kerr, whose team won an NBA regular-season record 73 games.