Dub Hub: ESPN experts pick Warriors over the Rockets in first round of playoffs

Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Friday, April 18th.

In today’s Dub Hub:

• ESPN experts predict Warriors to win their first round playoff series against the Rockets.
• In an interview with 95.7 The Game, Steve Kerr explains why Jonathan Kuminga has been out of the rotation over the last two games.
• Grizzlies’ Ja Morant a game-time decision (ankle) for final Play-In Tournament game against the Mavericks Friday night.

While the Golden State Warriors enter the playoffs as the lower seed in their first-round playoff matchup against the Houston Rockets, many are still picking the former champions to come out on top.

In a recent article from ESPN, their panel of NBA experts overwhelmingly chose Golden State to advance past Houston.

Via ESPN:

Jamal Collier: Warriors in 7

Andre Snellings: Warriors in 6

Chris Herring: Warriors in 7

Bobby Marks: Rockets in 6

Jorge Sedano: Warriors in 7

Tim MacMahon: Warriors in 6

Dave McMenamin: Warriors in 7

Ohm Youngmisuk: Warriors in 7

Ramona Shelburne: Rockets in 7

Final tally:

Warriors 7, Rockets 2

Seven of the nine analysts picked the Warriors to advance, with all of them expecting it to go at least six games—a nod to how competitive this matchup is expected to be.

The series pits a battle-tested Warriors core against an up-and-coming Houston team led by a very athletic young core. If the experts are right, experience might win out—though it won’t come easy.

For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Friday, April 18th:

Warriors News:

Warriors’ four keys to four NBA playoff wins vs. Rockets | NBC Sports Bay Area

They turned the ball over 20 times in their most recent game with the Rockets, a 106-96 loss, and that turned into 18 points for Houston. The Rockets in that game had 14 more fastbreak points than them, 16 more points in the paint and two more second-chance points in a win where they shot 33.3 percent from 3-point range. The equation is simple: Don’t give the Rockets more chances.

Their half-court offense can keep them out of games, but they make up for it by hitting the offensive glass and sprinting past you. The Warriors, in their three wins against the Rockets, averaged 11.7 turnovers and 14 points conceded off them. But in their two losses, they averaged 21 turnovers and 24 points conceded off them.

Ball security will either make or break the Warriors against the Rockets.

Mavericks CEO oddly likens Luka trade to Warriors’ Ellis-for-Bogut move | NBC Sports Bay Area

“At Golden State. When I got there, we had one marketable player that our fans love. His name was Monta Ellis. We traded Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for an injured Andrew Bogut, who wasn’t going to play that season,” Welts told reporters. “Ten days later, our new owner, Joe Lacob, was booed off the court trying to retire Chris Mullin’s uniform to bring him back into the fold of the Warriors. Booed off the court.

“The ball came out of Monta Ellis’s hands, was put in this young guard named Steph Curry. Four championships later, that worked out pretty well.

Steve Kerr explains why Jonathan Kuminga has been out of the rotation

Kawakami: The Butler trade made Jonathan Kuminga an inessential luxury for Warriors | The San Francisco Standard

A few Warriors sources pointed to the Warriors’ huge victory in Memphis on April 1 as a turning point. That’s when Curry scored 52 points and the Warriors put up 134 in maybe their most electric, connected game of the season. And it was a game Kuminga missed with a pelvic bruise.

Two games later, in another huge Warriors victory — over Denver at home on the back end of a brutal back-to-back — Curry himself told Kerr that Santos should close the game. Which he did, successfully. And who was the player Santos replaced? It was Kuminga, of course.

Jimmy Butler rocks custom Steph Curry jersey during private workout

NBA News:

Damian Lillard cleared of deep vein thrombosis, ramps up return | NBA

Additionally, Lillard has been taken off blood-thinning medications that were being used to treat his DVT.

“We’re thrilled for Dame,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “Our priority has always been Dame’s health. We’re grateful to our medical team for diagnosing and treating his DVT at an early stage, and for the world-renown hematology specialists at Mayo Clinic.

“Every step of Dame’s recovery has been at the direction of world-class medical professionals and their specific and strict protocols that have allowed for Dame’s safe and healthy return to play.”

Grizzlies say Ja Morant ‘legitimate game-time’ call vs. Mavs | ESPN

Sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania that Morant had experienced significant swelling in the ankle and has been undergoing around-the-clock treatment since he was hurt.

“My feel with him is he’ll do absolutely everything in order to play,” Memphis interim coach Tuomas Iisalo told reporters Thursday. “If he’s physically able to do it, he will do it. It’s a legitimate game-time decision.”

Commissioner Adam Silver reveals NBA ratings picked up in the second half of the season

In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:

Jimmy Butler had his ‘Elbows’ out in a playoff-clinching win

Amid talks of Butler’s apparent “lack of drive and assertiveness” during his Warriors tenure, Butler upped the ante, as he is wont to do in big-stakes games in the postseason, whether it be a matter of clinching the playoffs or being stuck in the doldrums of the play-in bracket, or playoff games where implications can reverberate throughout the course of a single game as strongly as it can throughout an entire series. Butler delivered the goods the Warriors expected out of him when they traded for him at the trade deadline: 38 points on 20 shot attempts, 18 free-throw attempts, and 68.1% True Shooting, with 7 rebounds and 6 assists to accompany his scoring night.

A tweet to end the week:

Follow @unstoppablebaby on Twitter for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.