Coach Steve Kerr returning to Golden State Warriors’ bench

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2016/01/22/5b2a02f8-c08c-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html

Version 0 of 1.

Coach Steve Kerr was set to return to the Golden State Warriors’ bench Friday night after a leave of absence dating from the first week of training camp in October as he recovered from complications following two back surgeries.

The defending champion Warriors made the announcement Friday morning that Kerr would coach Golden State against Indiana at Oracle Arena, where the Warriors would try to win their 38th straight regular season home game. The Warriors went 39-4 in Kerr’s absence. They were 19-0 at home this season entering Friday’s game and hadn’t lost at Oracle since a 113-111 overtime defeat to Chicago last Jan. 27.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I really missed the routine,” Kerr said.

Kerr, 50, said in mid-December that he was optimistic he would be back in the coming weeks. He had been dealing with headaches and other issues after the operations that followed Golden State’s first title in 40 years. Kerr watched the Warriors’ record 24-0 start from behind the scenes. He might still require a day off from time to time.

Interim head coach Luke Walton, who led the champs in Kerr’s absence, will return to his spot as top assistant.

●Josh Smith was traded to the Houston Rockets from the Los Angeles Clippers.

Smith finished last season with the Rockets before signing with the Clippers in the offseason. Houston also received the draft rights to forward-center Sergei Lishouk and cash considerations in a deal that gave Los Angeles draft rights to forward Maarty Leunen.

Smith signed with Houston in December 2014 after being released by Detroit. He played in 55 games for the Rockets last season. The 12-year veteran has averaged 14.8 points and 7.6 rebounds in his career.

Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points, and the host Boston Celtics held off a furious rally in the fourth quarter to beat the Chicago Bulls, 110-101.

Boston was up by 15 points at the half before seeing its lead drop to a point in the fourth quarter. Jimmy Butler led Chicago with 28 points and 14 rebounds.

● CLIPPERS 116, KNICKS 88: DeAndre Jordan scored 20 points on 7-for-7 shooting, Chris Paul had 16 points, 13 assists and six rebounds, and Los Angeles routed host New York.

● HORNETS 120, MAGIC 116 (OT): Kemba Walker had 40 points and nine assists, and Spencer Hawes made a go-ahead three-poiner with 17 seconds left in overtime to rally Charlotte to a victory at Orlando. Victor Oladipo scored 29 points for the Magic

● JAZZ 108, NETS 86: Gordon Hayward had 21 points and nine assists, and visiting Utah cruised past Brooklyn, which has lost five consecutive games.