Young provides spark off the bench
HOUSTON — Last week, when Warriors head coach Steve Kerr went out of his way to mention that Nick Young could be a factor against the Rockets, many took to social media to ask a singular question: Steve must be kidding, right?
In Golden State’s Game 1 win Monday night over Houston, Young quieted his critics, coming off the bench to chip in nine points on 3-for-5 shooting from three-point range. It was the type of scoring punch that the Warriors envisioned when they signed him to a one-year, $5.2 million deal last summer.
“I thought Nick’s minutes were important for us,” Kerr said. “He did a great job. He’s a good matchup defensively. He’s got size and strength. … I thought he came in and really gave us a big boost.”
Young, 32, took a pay cut last
July in hopes of finally enjoying a deep playoff run. This is a player who joined Golden State having spent only 15 of his 672 NBA games in the playoffs.
But after being plagued by inconsistency in the regular season, Young had a tough time cracking the playoff rotation, averaging 7.9 minutes through the Warriors’ first 10 playoff games. However, Kerr felt that this conference-finals matchup suited Young.
The Rockets, careful not to leave Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant open, tend to give Young plenty of room to operate. In three regular-season games against Houston, he averaged 16.7 points on 16-for-24 shooting.
Young was wide open on all
three three-pointers he made Monday. After the game, Rockets point guard Chris Paul conceded that he had left Young on each of those possessions to help on the weak-side.
“Some games, some series, you make those mistakes and guys don’t make the shots,” Paul said. “But tonight, every time we did it, they made the shot.”
Summer in Sacramento: The Warriors will participate in the 2018 California Classic Summer League, the team announced Monday morning.
The inaugural summer showcase, scheduled to run July 2, July 3 and July 5, will feature four NBA teams — Golden State, the Kings, Heat and Lakers — playing a double-header each of the three days. Sacramento is replacing Orlando as the third summer-league site, joining Las Vegas and Utah.
The Warriors will be at the Las Vegas Summer League July 6-17, but teams are allowed to participate in multiple summer leagues. The California Classic Summer League will include rookies selected in the 2018 NBA Draft, sophomores and athletes competing to make NBA and G League regular season rosters.
Candidates from Golden State’s roster to participate in summer league include Jordan Bell and Damian Jones.
Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email:cletourneau@sfchronicle .com Twitter: @Con_Chron