OAKLAND, Calif. — From the day he took over as coach of the Golden State Warriors in 2014, Steve Kerr tried to give his players the freedom to be themselves and to play to their strengths. He empowered them, the assistant Ron Adams said, by cultivating a sense of self-reliance that has become even more apparent in recent weeks.

“I think that mind-set pays big dividends,” Adams said. “I could say a lot of great things about the staff and how everyone gets along, but it’s not the critical point. The critical point is that we have a group of guys who are very respectful of each other, very respectful of us as coaches and very respectful of Steve as a leader. So they make it go, and they’ve taken ownership in his absence.”

It is, of course, one of the more unfortunate subplots to the N.B.A. playoffs. On April 21, in the middle of the Warriors’ first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers, Kerr stepped away from his day-to-day duties to seek additional treatment for pain stemming from what he has described as botched back surgery two years ago.