Jimmy Butler and his badly bruised backside probably should’ve been anywhere else in the world other than banging around with Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, and the Houston Rockets at Chase Center on Monday.
He didn’t run at full speed. He could barely jump. Butler winced, gritted his teeth, jogged with a hitch in all parts of his giddy-up, but just inexorably kept going. Mostly in pained slow motion.
“The first three quarters, he couldn’t move,” Draymond Green said. “Not sure how he started moving in the fourth quarter, but …”
Yes, that is the point: In the fourth quarter, Butler started to move again, started to run, started to attack the rim — started to soar, really — and finished the Warriors’ 109-106 victory with a flurry of activity that was about winning playoff basketball and high pain tolerance in equal measures.
The victory put the Warriors ahead 3-1 in this series, with a chance to clinch it on Wednesday in Game 5 at Houston. It was a practical victory, because now the Warriors are set up to give themselves — and Butler’s contusions — extra time off between series. It was a proof-of-concept victory, because they went into this series believing they were better than the Rockets and now have beaten them twice with a healthy Butler and once when he had to miss Game 3.
And more than anything in the aftermath of this victory, the Warriors just felt fully enveloped in Butler’s playoff aura and were happy to say so. Green, Stephen Curry, and Steve Kerr, of course, have won tons of huge games before this. They’ve been part of a lot of greatness.
But what they saw from Butler was a confirmation and elevation of everything they’ve felt since he arrived in February. The Warriors are proven champions. Now they’ve got a winner with a whole different kind of energy level.
“We had to have him,” Kerr said of playing Butler 40 minutes in this game. “If this were the regular season, he’d probably miss another week or two. But it’s the playoffs. He’s Jimmy Butler, so … this is what he does.”
It was all about Butler gutting through this matchup and then rising up for the game-sealing defensive rebound over Adams after Draymond harried Alperen Sengun into a miss. It was about drawing a three-point foul with 58.1 seconds left and the game tied. It was about scoring 14 fourth-quarter points while playing every second of the period.
And it was about jeering back and forth with Brooks and others throughout the game before he teed them up for the final push — if Butler was going to ache, he was going to make the Rockets feel it, too.
“I’m not going to say that I’m not hurting,” Butler said. “It’s a good pain whenever it’s all towards winning. I feel like they got me here to help do something special. If I’m out there on the floor, I’m expected to produce and help win. I’m glad I was able to do that tonight.”
The most majestic play came when Houston had the ball, down by 1, with less than five seconds left. The Rockets got the ball to Sengun, who tried to beat Draymond, but was forced into a midrange shot that glanced high off the rim. Adams was around the rim, but Butler flew in and snared it instead. He was fouled immediately and made the two free throws — he was 12-for-12 from the line on the night. And after the Rockets missed a desperate heave at the buzzer, the Warriors now hold a commanding lead in this series.
It took a lot of skill for Butler to get that rebound at that moment. It probably took more stubbornness and willpower, though.
“I told Dray, ‘If you get a stop, I will get the rebound,'” Butler said. “He got the stop and I got the rebound.”
Kerr wasn’t the only one a little bit in awe of that play, but he’s the one who described it best: “Just looked like he was coming in in slow motion. Just the elevation … Looked to me like he was just head and shoulders above everybody.”
Draymond said that the ball was so high up in the air, he figured that had to be sky walker Jonathan Kuminga reaching up to get it. But of course Kuminga didn’t play on Monday — it was Butler, summoning what he needed just for that rebound.
Afterward, Curry and Butler both suggested that the Rockets’ verbal jousting might’ve added some juice for Butler in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t like Dillon Brooks — we’re never having fun,” Butler said when he was asked if he was enjoying the jabbering on the floor. “I’m a fierce competitor. He’s a fierce competitor. There ain’t nothing fun about that.”
The Warriors needed an angry Butler in this game. And they needed him to play almost the whole game. Whatever he could give them, they needed. They need him to finish off this series. They sure will need him in the next one, if they move forward. And if they have any hopes of getting through the Western Conference and possibly close to the fifth title of this era, they absolutely need every single iota of Butler they can get.
That’s why they traded for him in February, though some of the Warriors weren’t entirely sure if the personality fit was quite right. Butler has burned bridges at all previous stops and he might do it with the Warriors, eventually, too. He’s a wildly unique guy, even in a league full of non-conformity.
But he’s blended in perfectly with this Warriors team because he needs them just as much as they need him. And because this whole relationship is an affirmation of his commitment to winning. You’ll grind through a lot of pain to prove it can work, apparently.
“We’ve been here for many years, still feeling like we have a chance, but not quite there,” Draymond said of the feeling right before acquiring Butler. “Need a little boost. Our ownership group made a two-year $120 million commitment (to extend Butler’s contract) to get that boost
“Tonight was great. He played through the injury. Was beautiful. But it’s just his presence. What his presence does for this team is humongous.”
The Warriors have never had somebody like this, that’s for sure. They’ve never had anybody who wore a fur jacket on the sidelines, as Butler did on Saturday when he was out for the game. And they’ve never featured a star who habitually tweaks a specific teammate in public, but that’s what Butler does every chance he gets with Buddy Hield. Even when Hield got a rare start on Monday, played very solidly, and was a +17 in the plus-minus.
“I hate to give Buddy a compliment, so I’m not going to,” Butler said with a smile. “But No. 7 on our team really brought the defensive mentality tonight, made some big shots. He stinks. I just got to add that.”
This is the Butler aura. The Warriors are getting used to it. They’re liking it. And Butler is clearly loving it.
“This is the best time of the year for everybody,” Butler said. “This is why you go through what you go through. So … to miss a game, I don’t like it. But I’m back. I’m back in a big way.”
You couldn’t miss it on Monday. You can’t miss Butler whenever he’s around. It’s part of the experience — and the longer it goes this postseason, the happier everybody will be.
