Less than 10 minutes after tipoff Wednesday night, the Warriors saw their postseason dream land with a thud on the floor of Houston’s Toyota Center. Jimmy Butler III, grimacing in pain, eventually rose to his feet before splitting two free throws and limping into the locker room.
Butler’s hands were empty, but his gait suggested he might have shifted the odds of Golden State advancing beyond the first round and, moreover, extending its season into June.
In a game with hyperphysical overtones befitting a WWE event – without using folding chairs as weapons – Butler’s pelvic contusion took the worst of it and undoubtedly contributed to the Warriors’ 109-94 loss in Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
It’s only one game, evening the series at 1-1, but it felt much bigger because Butler’s uncomfortable exit – he’ll undergo an MRI examination on Thursday – precipitates the forming of dark clouds reminiscent of those that drifted above the December-January Warriors.
Remember them? Of course you do. The Steph and a Prayer bunch that everyone employed by the franchise and every soul walking the streets of Dub Nation hoped they’d never see again.
“If Jimmy’s out,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters in Houston, “we have to rethink everything.”
Indeed, they do. Butler’s arrival at the Feb. 6 trade deadline and his seamless fit with the roster changed everything. It saved a season going sideways. The Warriors were 25-26 when Butler came aboard and are 25-9 since. With Stephen Curry and Butler becoming a devastating duo, the team sprinted to the finish, moving up four places in the standings.
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Barring a miraculous recovery by Butler, those Warriors of three months ago are back. Except this time, they’re in the playoffs, which they likely would have been watching had he not been added.
“We’ll have to figure that out,” Draymond Green said in Houston. “It’s no easy task. And replacing Jimmy, obviously, we all know what he’s meant to this team. Since he’s been here, we’ve kind of tailored our offense a bit around him, so that will have to change.
“He’s tough. We got a couple days off, so we’ll take it day by day and see what we get.”
Once Butler left Game 2, the Warriors brought commendable effort but were overmatched on a night when basketball often was obscured by the wrestling and gesturing from both teams. The Rockets found their rhythm early and turbocharged it when once he was ruled out.
Houston’s Jalen Green, the team’s top scorer, found his best self, finishing with a game-high 38 points – 33 coming after Butler limped off with 1:51 remaining in the first quarter.
“Anytime you lose one of your best players, top dogs, it’s tough to overcome,” Green said. “But we probably did a good job giving ourselves a chance. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”
The Rockets amped up their defense on Curry, who finished with a team-high 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field, including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. Four others reached double figures, including Jonathan Kuminga, who totaled 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting, including 2-of-5 from distance in his first appearance since April 11 at Portland.
Golden State’s task suddenly becomes one of trying to stay competitive. There is a link between any Butler absence and minutes afforded Kuminga insofar as the latter’s path to the rotation is tied to Jimmy’s availability. No Jimmy means Kuminga likely gets action.
It’s not the scenario the that best suits the Warriors, the Curry-Butler combo is the most significant determinant to their postseason fate.
“I don’t want to talk too much about it; he could be back next game,” a wishful-thinking Curry said. “I don’t want to dwell too much on it.
But if, for whatever reason, he’s not out there, I’ll carry a lot of the lift and the load on trying to create shots and create advantages. We’ll have different rotations out there, but there’s a couple plays that we call for him specifically. The rest of it is just trying to make the simple play, not turn the ball over, hit the open guy, set solid screens, shoot if you’re open. Normal basketball.
“It’s just a matter of can we do it consistently enough make enough shots? I don’t think it’s too much rocket science. Just got to be able to do it.”
The Warriors were not able to “do it” with any consistency in the two months before Butler came to the rescue. Curry was being mugged by mobs of defenders. The offense suffered. General manager Mike Dunleavy saw where it was heading and acquired Butler.
Butler said he’s fine. That’s not surprising. Players tend to downplay their injuries. If he is, and returns this weekend, the Warriors dodged a wallop. If he isn’t, their postseason journey enters a thick fog.
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