Young may be factor in conference finals
Like most NBA head coaches, Steve Kerr has shortened his bench in the playoffs. It came as little surprise when reserve guard Nick Young, one of the Warriors’ more inconsistent players, spent much of the first two rounds anchored to the sideline.
That might change in the Western Conference finals. After Golden State’s Game 5 win over the Pelicans in the second round Tuesday night, Kerr went out of his way to mention that Young could be a factor against the Rockets.
“Nick Young played really well against Houston this year, and he’s a good matchup for them,” Kerr said. “I think every series is different, and you have to look at your opponent and figure out what you need to do to match up.”
In July, Young took a pay cut to chase a ring with Golden State. Only 15 of his 672 NBA games had come in the playoffs. With a career winning
percentage just shy of 33, Young hadn’t gone further than the 2012 Western Conference finals, with the Clippers.
Now, after averaging 7.9 minutes through the Warriors’ first 10 playoff games, Young could be an asset against Houston. Given Golden State’s glut of shooters, the Rockets tend to give him plenty of room to operate. Young averaged 16.7 points on 16for-24 shooting in three games against Houston this season.
“All three times we’ve played them this year, he’s played well,” forward Draymond Green said. “He can make shots. When you can make shots, especially on this team, you’re going to get open looks. When you can knock those shots down at a high
rate, which Nick is capable of going of, that’s really big. We have confidence in him.”
Tested defensively: Stephen Curry has made significant defensive strides in recent years, but he is still probably the weakest defender in the Warriors’ current starting lineup.
It raises an intriguing question: Will the Rockets try to isolate Curry on pick-and-rolls? His lateral quickness isn’t quite what it was before he recently missed five-plus weeks with a sprained MCL in his left knee.
“I’ll be fine,” Curry said. “James (Harden) averages 30 points a game. He’s hard to stop for anybody in the league. We’ve been in situations where teams are going to try to pick on whoever. It’s kind of funny if you look at the ‘Hamptons 5’ lineup that’s out there, I would probably do the same exact thing if I was coaching out there.
“You’ve got Klay (Thompson), Andre (Iguodala), Draymond and (Kevin Durant) out there. I embrace those opportunities to get stops, try to make it tough in those iso situations and just do my job. At the end of the day, for us, we have a pretty good game plan going into it. We’ve played teams that try to do that constantly, whether it’s Cleveland in the Finals the last three years, or whatever team tries to do it.”