The Golden State Warriors have pinned their hopes of a deep playoff run on the “Batman and Robin” pairing of Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler. Unfortunately, the latter half of the star duo took a scary fall Wednesday night that threatens to upend Golden State’s chances for a fifth NBA championship since 2015.
Butler, a six-time all-star who joined the Warriors after a blockbuster trade with the Miami Heat in February, suffered a pelvic contusion during a 109-94 loss to the Houston Rockets in Game 2 of a first-round playoff series. The 35-year-old forward was able to walk off the court under his own power, but he was unable to return to the game and will undergo an MRI exam Thursday to assess the injury. The Warriors will host Game 3 at Chase Center in San Francisco on Saturday.
The old guard Warriors and upstart Rockets have split a pair of bruising games, and a total of six technical fouls were handed out during Wednesday’s contest. Butler was injured while claiming a defensive rebound as players from both sides jockeyed for position in the paint.
With about 2½ minutes remaining in the first quarter, Rockets guard Amen Thompson lost his balance and ran into Butler’s legs as the Warriors star descended with the ball. Butler, still several feet in the air when he was undercut by Thompson, fell hard to the court with his body parallel to the ground and landed squarely on his backside.
Butler immediately rolled over in pain upon impact, and he remained down for an extended period before eventually exiting for the locker room. He departed with three points and two rebounds in eight minutes. Thompson was called for a loose ball foul, but the referees didn’t assess a flagrant foul.
Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said he didn’t believe Thompson intended to injure Butler.
“Jimmy always says he’s going to be fine,” Kerr said. “We have to see with the MRI. It looked like there was some physicality on the rebound, and Thompson inadvertently found himself underneath Jimmy based on the tug of war that was going on. We didn’t think there was anything wrong with the play.”
Butler’s midseason arrival instilled excitement and hope into a lackluster campaign for Golden State. Before the trade, Butler was suspended by the Heat three times during a months-long standoff prompted by his desire for a new contract and a disagreement over his role. The Warriors inked Butler a two-year, $121 million extension, and he played a central role in their playoff push.
Curry and Butler quickly developed an on-court chemistry, and the 37-year-old Curry credited Butler’s arrival with giving Golden State the chance to play “meaningful basketball” after the Warriors missed the playoffs last season. Butler repeatedly expressed his awe at Curry’s shooting ability, and he recently donned a custom Warriors jersey with his own last name and Curry’s No. 30 to pay tribute to his star partner on social media.
When Butler joined the Warriors, they had a losing record and were in 10th place in the Western Conference. Golden State then went 23-7 with Butler in the lineup to finish 48-34, and he scored 38 points in a play-in tournament victory over the Memphis Grizzlies last week to help the Warriors land the No. 7 seed in the West. Thanks in part to Butler, Golden State boasted the NBA’s top-ranked defense after the all-star break.
Without Butler, Golden State’s offense often becomes overly dependent upon Curry for both scoring and playmaking. The Warriors ranked 17th on offense before the all-star break; Butler’s ability to alleviate pressure and balance the scoring helped improve the team’s ranking to seventh after the break.
Kerr’s starting lineup for the playoffs was constructed to allow Curry and Butler to handle the scoring load, and his bench rotation has several players with limited postseason experience. To help fill Butler’s minutes in Game 2, Kerr turned to athletic forward Jonathan Kuminga, who had fallen out of the rotation during the play-in tournament and at the start of the playoffs. While Butler’s timetable is not yet clear, Curry missed two games earlier this season with a pelvic contusion.
“If Jimmy’s out, we have to rethink everything: rotations, who starts, the best combinations and all that kind of stuff. We have to watch the film and figure out what our plan would be,” Kerr said. “This is the playoffs. It’s an incredibly physical sport. Stuff happens, People get injured. It’s all part of it. There’s no time to lament anything. You can feel bad for your player, but you have to move on to what’s next.”
The Warriors, who got 31 points from Curry and 25 points from Butler in a Game 1 victory over the Rockets, played from behind for most of Game 2. Golden State’s offense sputtered in the second half, and Curry scored 20 points but committed six turnovers against Houston’s physical defense.
Rockets guard Jalen Green poured in a game-high 38 points to even the series. Houston, which claimed the West’s No. 2 seed with a 52-30 record, is seeking its first playoff series victory since 2020. After Saturday’s Game 3, Golden State will host Game 4 on Monday before the series returns to Houston for Game 5 on Wednesday.
“Anytime you lose one of your best players, your top dogs, it’s tough to overcome,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “It’s no easy task replacing Jimmy. We’ve tailored our offense a bit around him. He’s tough. We’ve got a couple days off [before Game 3]. We’ll take it day by day and see where we get.”
