The Golden State Warriors were a desperate team before they traded for Jimmy Butler and they’re still a desperate team after the trade. That’s why Stephen Curry and Draymond Green played Thursday night in Houston when the team didn’t arrive until 4 AM for the second half of a back-to-back after a hard-fought loss in Dallas.
It paid off. The Warriors, after having their 24-point lead trimmed to two, held off the Rockets to head into the NBA All-Star break having gone 3-1 with Butler, who is already paying huge dividends, in the lineup. Steve Kerr talked about how much the team, and he, needs this upcoming break. With the momentum they’ve created since the Butler deal, they can come out physically and mentally fresh for what will be a wild 27-game sprint to the finish in a Western Conference packed together like a can of sardines.
The Warriors have benefitted from the schedule since Butler arrived. They played the Bulls, who stink, and then got the Bucks without Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Rockets, who were also on a back-to-back, to account for their three wins. They were a possession away from a 4-0 start with Butler, but Kyrie Irving was just too much in Dallas and, frankly, the Warriors played miserably in that game.
Jimmy Butler shows early chemistry with Stephen Curry in encouraging Warriors debut: ‘I get the easy job’
Jasmyn Wimbish
There are no style points right now. The Warriors enter the break at 28-27, good enough — or bad enough, depending on your perspective — for the West’s final play-in spot. They are tied in the loss column with the No. 9 Kings and just one up on the No. 11 Suns. Every game will be massive the rest of the way.
The good news is Jonathan Kuminga should be back soon after the break, and for now, the Warriors seem to have settled on a starting lineup of Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, Butler and Green as a small-ball five. Moody and Podziemski have been played well, and Quentin Post, when Kerr puts him out there, is giving them a stretch-center variation to their offense.
But it’s Butler who has materially changed things. Have a look at his four box scores so far:
- 25 PTS, 4 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK
- 20 PTS, 9 REB, 6 AST, 4 STL
- 21 PTS, 9 REB, 7 AST
- 19 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AST
Butler’s impact is being felt on both ends. He’s fueling a defense that is back to creating some chaos with scrambling rotations and ball hawking. Since Butler arrived, only the Clippers have generated more steals than the Warriors’ 11.5 per game, which is up from 8.6 before the trade. That has led to almost 10 more points off turnovers per game.
Easy baskets. That’s the takeaway here. Before Butler, the Warriors had to survive on an incredibly and, for the most part, unsustainably difficult shot diet. They could not get to the rim. They could not get to the free-throw line. Butler specializes in both. Since he arrived, the Warriors are getting six more shots per game in the restricted area and seven more free throws.
That last one is a major leap. Before Butler, the Warriors ranked 26th in the league, generating just 20.7 free throws per game. Over four games with Butler, they’ve jumped to No. 2. These trips to the line can fuel runs and, perhaps even more importantly, limit the runs that opponents used to be able to go on when Golden State started missing shots and coughing up their customary turnovers.
Before, the Warriors had no one to turn to — not even Curry, who can be pretty chaotic himself and has an incredibly hard time drawing fouls — to settle things down. Butler settles everything. He’s forceful without forcing anything. He gives the Warriors almost a sure bet to get into the paint, where he always takes his time, coming to jump stops, pivoting and waiting for plays to open up, either for himself or a teammate, even after he has picked up his dribble.
Here Podziemski is the beneficiary of Butler’s patient creation:
Here it’s Green:
Butler is already figuring out how to leverage Curry’s unmatched gravity, as well. Here, as Curry creates a smoke screen that sucks two defenders into his orbit, Butler anticipates what’s happening, fires a pass to the Green in the corner, and immediately cuts into the void left by the two guys attached to Curry.
Here again, Curry is the screener for Butler, who cuts behind the action knowing that Curry’s man will not switch onto him at the expense of leaving Curry open. Sure enough, Butler’s man jumps to Curry and it’s alley-oop time.
Again, what do all of these shots have in common? They’re near the basket. That is not an area of the court the Warriors visited too often before Butler, especially since Kuminga has been out. Kuminga is expected to return after the break, giving Golden State two legitimate downhill drivers.
This changes the Warriors’ whole offensive equation, as they no longer have to rely on hot shooting nights to win. Curry only made seven of 17 shots on Thursday, but the Warriors still found a way to win against a top-five defense. That’s why Draymond called Butler a “franchise changer” and noted that these Warriors would not have won a game like Thursday night without him.
It’s true. Butler is, in Kerr’s words, “the real deal,” and depending on how the rest of the season goes, we might be saying the same thing about the Warriors come playoff time.
