Steve Kerr's mystery illness might keep him out rest of first-round series

The health of Steve Kerr is now the Golden State Warriors' biggest concern and the ailing head coach may miss the remainder of the Western Conference first-round playoff series.

The Warriors announced Saturday afternoon that Kerr, who missed the team's morning shootaround, would not be able to coach Game 3 against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night because of an illness.

Assistant coach Mike Brown filled in for Kerr in the 119-113 victory over the Blazers as the Warriors rallied to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

"He hadn't been feeling well for a couple days, so I knew it would be a possibility," Brown told reporters before the game.

Specific details about Kerr's condition have been scarce and the cause of the illness is not yet known.

According to San Jose Mercury News sources, at the worst of this current illness, Kerr was in excruciating pain and he could barely walk.

Kerr, who could miss Game 4 on Monday night, is no stranger to health issues as the reigning NBA Coach of the Year missed the first 43 games of the 2015-16 season while dealing with headaches, nausea and an ailing neck due to complications from back surgery.

Kerr hasn't felt well all series, according to people around him, and recently the pain became unbearable, the Mercury News reported, adding it is unknown if these issues are even related to his past health problems.

Stephen Curry scored 14 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter -- including the Warriors' final nine points of the game -- as they rallied from a 16-point, third-quarter deficit to beat the Trail Blazers in Game 3.

The Warriors did it under the direction of Brown, formerly the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers.

"He's obviously going through a lot physically, and that's first and foremost for him to take care of himself, make sure he's on the road to recovery and feeling like himself," Curry said of Kerr at the postgame podium.

"We've got his back. We've had certain situations all year (and) previous years where players are down and you've got the 'next man up' philosophy. Same with Coach Kerr. He's done a great job of implementing a philosophy and a strategy and an identity of how we play Warrior basketball. And even in his absence, we want to kind of live up to that.

"Coach Brown did a great job of stepping in -- (and) the whole coaching staff -- and that'll have to continue until he's back. But us as players, we have an opportunity to keep fighting, keep playing and keep pushing to our goal."

Curry told ESPN immediately after the game that he grabbed the game ball following the final buzzer to present to Kerr.

"Our coach is going through a lot right now, physically," Curry said on ESPN. "He told us this morning this is a situation where we need to rally and go out and win a game for him. But we felt that the way the game had gone, we had to fight and do it for him ... and the way that he said it was that we had to win one for the Gipper. So, shout out to Coach Kerr."