The series hasn’t even started yet, but Alvin Gentry and Steve Kerr have already delivered a few good-natured barbs at each other. New Orleans’ third-year head coach joked Saturday after wrapping up a Round 1 sweep over Portland that his only focus in facing Golden State is “I just want to outcoach Steve Kerr. That’s all.” Meanwhile, the Warriors’ head coach joked of a West semifinal series with the Pelicans that “fortunately, Alvin Gentry doesn’t really know what he’s doing.”
Golden State’s lead assistant coach under Kerr during that franchise’s run to an NBA championship in 2015, Gentry does know the Warriors and many of their players very well, but he downplayed that factor after Wednesday's practice.