Dub Hub: Steve Kerr praises the Warriors’ effort in OT loss to Clippers

Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Monday, April 14th.

In today’s Dub Hub:

• Steve Kerr praises the Warriors’ effort in the team’s 124-119 overtime loss against the Clippers in their regular season finale.
• Jimmy Butler says he plans to play on Tuesday vs. the Grizzlies after taking a knee to the thigh.
• NBA Playoff Bracket is officially set following Sunday’s regular season finale.

The Golden State Warriors fell just short in a 124-119 overtime thriller against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday—a loss that locks them into the Play-In Tournament as the seventh seed in the Western Conference.

Despite the heartbreaking finish, head coach Steve Kerr praised both the effort and the intensity on display from his squad.

Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler led the way with 36 and 30 points, respectively. But in the end, a few crucial missed opportunities in overtime proved costly.

A win would have secured the sixth seed and a guaranteed spot in the playoffs, but the Warriors now face a tougher road ahead. Golden State will now regroup for a must-win Play-In game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, where they’ll try to fight their way back into the main playoff bracket.

For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Monday, April 14th:

Warriors News:

Warriors lose to Clippers, stumble into dangerous Play-In game against Grizzlies | The Athletic

If the Golden State Warriors didn’t punt away a gimme last Wednesday night to the 34-48 San Antonio Spurs, if Harrison Barnes didn’t dagger them with a fadeaway at the buzzer, they would’ve already clinched a top-six seed before Sunday afternoon.

If they’d played a little sharper against a rising Los Angeles Clippers team, if they’d fared better in Steph Curry’s 38 minutes (minus-16), if they hadn’t been pummeled on the glass (42-25 rebounding disadvantage), they could’ve snuck into the sixth seed on the regular season’s final day.

But they lost to the Clippers in overtime 124-119 after Draymond Green “smoked a layup,” as he self-described, with 26 seconds left and down two, and Buddy Hield missed a score-tying 3 in the closing moments.

Jimmy Butler plans to play against the Grizzlies on Tuesday despite taking a knee to the thigh during Sunday’s loss

Warriors’ postseason will be short unless they fix two key issues | NBC Sports Bay Area

Between Sunday night and Tuesday evening, Curry said, there will “a lot” of focus on the hustle plays and rebounding.

“But it’s not just technique,” Curry said. “It’s just mentality. Like it’s just go get it, and everybody has that chip on their shoulder. Because when we do get rebounds, you see us flying in transition. Anybody who grabs a rebound and [throws an] outlet pass, we have confidence that everybody can run, and we got spacing. That’s usually our best offense.

“So even with Memphis, they’re a bigger team, but you can kind of get them in transition if you can secure rebounds and those 50-50 balls. That’ll probably be a good test or a marker if we can win that game.”

Steve Kerr explains why Jonathan Kuminga wasn’t in the rotation on Sunday

Jonathan Kuminga gets up extra shots following his DNP against the Clippers

NBA News:

Updated NBA Playoff Bracket following Sunday’s regular season finale

Suns fire coach Mike Budenholzer after one season | ESPN

Budenholzer had issues connecting with the locker room this season, with team officials concluding that the roster failed to respond to the 2021 NBA championship coach, sources said. Budenholzer’s inability to coexist with his players centered around the franchise’s cornerstone, Devin Booker, and went down the roster, those sources said.

The Suns will now hold a wide-ranging coaching search, sources said.

Budenholzer accepted the Suns’ job on a five-year, $50 million contract last offseason — hired for his winning pedigree and schemes on both sides of the court.

Pelicans part ways with basketball operations chief David Griffin | NBA

Griffin, whose title was executive vice president of basketball operations, leaves his post one day after a 115-100 loss to Oklahoma City that extended the injury-plagued club’s season-ending skid to seven games.

“This was a difficult decision, but one that I feel is necessary at this time to bring a fresh approach to our front office and build a culture that will deliver sustainable success,” Pelicans owner Gayle Benson said in a written statement.

The Pelicans’ 21-61 record — fourth worst in the NBA this season — was the franchise’s second-worst mark since arriving in New Orleans in 2002 and worst since the 2004-05 season, when the club, then called the Hornets, went 18-64.

In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:

Player grades: Warriors vs. Clippers

The play that Steve Kerr drew up at the end of overtime to get Hield a three was absolutely brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

I’ve seen a lot of talk that it was an awful play design, so let’s remember the situation. There were 6.1 seconds remaining, and the Warriors were down three. The Clippers knew the Warriors were only going to take a three. On top of that, the Clippers were going to foul to prevent a three if they got an opportunity. And it hopefully goes without saying that they were going to do any and everything in their power to make sure Curry didn’t get a look. Hield is shooting 37.0% on threes this year, 39.7% in his career, and was 2-for-5 in the game to that point. Getting him an open three, in that scenario, is an absolutely spectacular result. On the Clippers broadcast, they were gushing about the design of the ATO, and how lucky LA was to not get burned by such a well-designed play.

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