Jimmy Butler took the most shots of his bountiful three-month Warriors career on Sunday, scored the most points, played the most minutes, and absolutely was the most dominant, most commanding, most Playoff Jimmy anyone could’ve possibly wanted or ordered up for this very significant moment.
“I liked how Jimmy played,” Steve Kerr said with a sly smile afterward. “Didn’t you?”
The Warriors needed more — but not from Butler during the overtime loss to the Clippers in the regular-season finale at Chase Center that knocked the Warriors into the play-in. No, the biggest lesson the Warriors learned was that in the biggest and toughest moments, they can count on Butler to do big and tough things, just like Sunday, when he scored 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting, dished out 9 assists, only committed 1 turnover, and played a marathon 48 minutes and 2 seconds against a Clipper team that is good enough to win a few rounds in the playoffs.
The Warriors, of course, have four championships worth of proof that Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are capable of dragging their teammates across the ultimate finish line. Now they have Butler, who has done this on two previous Finals trips with Miami and on Sunday did the most he could to get the Warriors out of the play-in.
The play I’ll always remember: After a Curry turnover in the early minutes of the third quarter, Butler turned around and sprinted back downcourt so quickly that he cut in front of and stole James Harden’s pass near the basket. Then Butler passed the ball to Brandin Podziemski, sprinted back the other way, got the ball back, and buried a mid-range jumper.
That was the whole thing there. That’s the guy who already changed the Warriors’ season and now maybe can lift them in the postseason.
Riding the Butler wave
The remaining issue: Can the rest of the Warriors keep up with Curry, Butler, and Draymond? On Sunday, the answer was mostly no, though Podziemski played another strong game and is solidly locked in as the Warriors’ fourth most important player. The role players did some good things and some bad things, but they mostly frittered away what the stars handed them.
The Warriors will get their next chance on Tuesday at home against the West 8 seed Memphis; a victory would get the Warriors the 7 seed and a first-round matchup against 2 seed Houston starting next weekend. A loss on Tuesday would push the Warriors into a do-or-die play-in game on Friday against the winner of the Sacramento-Dallas 9-10 game.
Historical note: The Warriors are 0-3 in play-in games during this era, including a season-ending loss to the Grizzlies in 2021 at Chase. But wait: Butler was the leader of the 2023 Heat, the only team in the brief history of the play-in tournament to get all the way to the Finals.
Draymond, are you guys drawing on Butler’s successful play-in history going into Tuesday?
“We’re just drawing on having Jimmy as a whole,” Draymond said. “You saw the effort that he put out there tonight. That’s it. Not necessarily the experience in the play-in or any of that. Just riding our aces.”
This is the next stage for the Butler era, but the first stage was pretty good, too. The Warriors were 25-26 and in 11th place before Butler arrived. From then on, they went 23-8. But the Warriors hadn’t really seen Butler figure out that it was time to take over … and then do it. With the Clippers, as usual, swarming Curry, and with Kawhi Leonard and James Harden on the attack, somebody else had to step into the spotlight on Sunday. Somebody who has done it many times before.
“He’s an alpha,” Kerr said of Butler. “He’s out there and he wants the ball and he wants to get to the foul line. You can just throw him the ball. You don’t even have to run offense, you just need to get spaced. And what a luxury that is.”
Butler has been great for the Warriors since the trade, but he also has been passing up a lot of shots — even a layup in Portland on Friday. Butler has been getting to the free-throw line consistently, but also he’s been shying away from the midrange shots that tore up the playoffs in ’23. On Sunday, he took a handful of midrangers, made several, and that aggressiveness opened up things for himself and his teammates.
“It felt good to have the ball and make all the right decisions,” Butler said. “Put the ball in the basket sometimes.”
The Warriors saw Butler do it. And keep doing it. They’re getting so much from Butler now that Kerr has, at least temporarily, decided he doesn’t need Jonathan Kuminga in the game anymore. Butler eats up minutes and Kerr is going to play the guys who fit best with Curry and Butler, that’s it. That’s totally understood in the Warriors’ locker room, by the way.
Confidence game
I asked Butler: What do you think about Draymond saying that the Warriors’ mindset going into the play-in is that they have you now?
“I like the confidence he has in myself,” Butler said, smiling. “I also have that same amount of confidence. I know that I and we have a job to do. And I know that we’re capable of doing it. So play-in, here we come.”
Butler was limping badly in the final moments of overtime after he took a Leonard knee into his left leg. Butler didn’t leave the game and said later that he should be fine for Tuesday.
But it was hard to miss that Butler was still a bit wobbly in the locker room and that Curry is wearing a bunch of tape on his right thumb after suffering repeated tweaks and sprains. The foundational pieces are a bit frayed right now, that’s for sure.
“I’ll go home and play some dominoes and drink some coffee,” Butler said. “It’ll make me feel better.”
Butler and Draymond are 35 and Curry recently turned 37. There is no doubt that they can all still carry a team — but for how many rounds and through how many more bumps and bruises?
The die is cast, though. There is no youth movement happening here. This is how the Warriors turned around this season, this is what has made them relevant again, this is why they’re good now, and this is how everything will be decided. It wasn’t good enough on Sunday, but if the Warriors play like this, they should beat Memphis on Tuesday. If they win that game, they should, at the very least, give the Rockets a test in the first round.
But it also probably will take 40 minutes a game or more from Butler, and maybe a few of those games from Curry and Draymond, too. It might take another 48-minute haul from Butler. Then more games and more marathons, if the Warriors and Butler can keep going and going. They’ll rest when they’re retired.