Warriors Notes: Butler, Lineup Changes, Looney, Kuminga, Game 7

The Warriors missed two chances to close out their first-round series with the Rockets, but they remain confident going into Sunday’s Game 7, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Golden State was blown out in Game 5 and watched Houston pull away in the fourth quarter of Game 6, but there were no signs of panic in the locker room after Friday’s loss.

“We’re good. We’re smiling,” Jimmy Butler said. “We’re listening to our music, celebrating life. We’re ready to compete. We were ready to compete tonight. Things didn’t go our way. OK, we’re going to be ready to compete on Sunday. We’re going to make the game go our way.”

The Warriors believe their experience in high-stakes games will ultimately decide the series, Youngmisuk adds. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green have a 3-2 record in seventh games during their time together, with the last one coming in 2023 when they won handily at Sacramento. Butler has been in four Game 7s, going 2-2.

Many of the Rockets’ core players are going through their first playoff experience, but Youngmisuk notes that they have some veterans who’ve been in this situation before. Jeff Green, Steven Adams, Fred VanVleet and Aaron Holiday have collectively been in 10 seventh games.

There’s more on the Warriors:

• Steve Kerr made two changes to his starting lineup before Game 6 — replacing Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski with Buddy Hield and Gary Payton II — and he might consider revising it again on Sunday, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Slater explains that Golden State is trying to get Alperen Sengun involved in actions involving Curry, but the zones Houston has been employing are making it easier for Sengun to avoid that matchup. Slater suggests that Kevon Looney could see more time to battle against Adams after playing just two minutes on Friday.
• Kerr said putting Jonathan Kuminga back into the rotation is “100 percent on the table” for Game 7 (Twitter video link from Slater). Kuminga has made just two appearances in the series, logging 26 minutes in a Game 2 loss and 17 minutes in a Game 3 win.
• Butler dismissed concerns that the veteran Warriors are being worn down by a younger, more athletic opponent, per Ann Killion of The San Francisco Chronicle. “We’ll be all right,” Butler said. “I’m 35, I can’t remember how old Steph is (37), Dray is 35, too. Everybody’s got to travel the same distance. Ain’t like we’re going to go around the world and land in Houston and they got only a five-minute flight to Houston. They’ve got to travel just like we’ve got to travel.”