As Iguodala stepped to the free-throw line, the arena cameras swung to the sideline, to Link as he took off his warm-up gear.
A stir ran through the crowd. Realizing something was wrong, Kerr turned to look at Link, who was preparing to check in, and froze.
"Are you going to call a timeout?" Link noticed Kerr looking at him and turned with a smile.
"Huh?" Kerr looked utterly baffled. He had not expected Link to suddenly speak to him.
"If you're calling a timeout, then I won't go in yet."
"..." Kerr was completely dumbfounded. He stood there like an idiot, not knowing what to say.
Hadn't Link been diagnosed with a nondisplaced fracture of his first costal cartilage? Hadn't the Grizzlies said his return date was undetermined?
Hadn't everyone in the world already agreed that Link could not play today?
Then what the hell was going on? What had Link just said? He was going in!?
Boom! Kerr suddenly felt as if his head had exploded. His hand loosened, and the clipboard dropped straight to the floor.
"Steve?" Link called again, and only then did Kerr snap out of his shock.
"You're checking in? Your injury..." Before Kerr could finish, Iguodala had already made the and-one free throw, giving the Grizzlies their first lead of the game.
"It's time for a timeout, Steve!" Seeing Kerr stand there without reacting, Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton shouted a reminder and tugged on Kerr's arm.
Kerr looked at Link, then at the Warriors player preparing to inbound from the baseline, before asking the referee for a timeout.
Link looked at Kerr and shrugged. "I told you, if you were going to call a timeout, you should've said so earlier. Honestly."
With that, Link walked back to the bench. Kerr immediately picked