Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
HOUSTON – Jimmy Butler sat at his locker inside Toyota Center. His phone rested on a small table next to him, softly playing R&B music alongside a candle (cotton poplin) and a partially consumed bottle of beer.
Butler looked like a man in full relaxation mode, winding down after his shift at work – which happened to involve playing 42-plus minutes in an NBA playoff game, ushering his Golden State Warriors to victory.
Across the room, teammate Gary Payton II smiled when reminded of head coach Steve Kerr’s earlier description of Butler as this team’s designated driver. Payton nodded and agreed with Kerr.
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“I’m getting in the car with Jimmy,” Payton said.
They took their first official ride with “Playoff Jimmy” on Sunday night, and it resulted in a taut 95-85 triumph over the Houston Rockets. Golden State won Game 1 of this Western Conference playoff series despite threatening to squander a 23-point, third-quarter lead.
The Warriors didn’t blow it mostly because they had Butler as Stephen Curry’s co-star. So when that big cushion dwindled to only three points midway through the fourth quarter, and the crowd sniffed a rousing finish, the Warriors tossed the ball to Butler, the basketball equivalent of catching your breath.
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His impact was fully evident in the box score: 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists, five steals. But his influence on this game stretched even deeper. Just as he’s done for the past 2½ months, Butler provided order amid Curry’s distinctive chaos.
That matters in any game. That really matters in the playoffs.
“We know he’s been here (in the playoffs), so that gives us a psychological advantage,” guard Brandin Podziemski said. “When the s— is kind of hitting the fan, we have three Hall of Famers on the court. That gives you an advantage if you’re me and Moses (Moody), because a lot of teams don’t really care what we do.”
The Warriors are 25-8 since Butler’s debut with the team Feb. 8, including Tuesday’s play-in win over Memphis. They’re 24-5 with him and Curry (who scored a game-high 31 points Sunday night) both in the lineup.
And, most importantly at the moment, they’re 1-0 with Butler in the playoffs.
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This is why the Warriors reshuffled their roster to acquire him from Miami at the trade deadline. This is why they handed him a two-year contract extension worth $112 million.
Remember how fans and media were clamoring for general manager Mike Dunleavy to maximize “the Curry window”? Dunleavy responded by landing Butler, and now the Warriors are in the playoffs – and they’ve already wrested homecourt advantage away from the second-seeded Rockets.
They don’t win Sunday’s game without Butler and his commanding presence on the postseason stage.
“He has that impact every game,” Kerr said. “He calms things down, he’s very confident, he’s very poised, he always believes we’re going to win. Jimmy is one of the best players in the league, and that’s what the best players in the league do.
“It’s not just about scoring or stats. It’s about settling the game down, having the presence and the nature to compete and win games like this.”
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Butler first seized control in the second quarter, when the Warriors outscored the Rockets 29-13. That pushed Golden State ahead by 13 points at halftime, a bold early statement against its young, uber-athletic opponent.
Just as significant was the way Butler served as a security blanket for a team prone to getting in its own way. The Warriors committed 14 turnovers, including several totally unforced miscues that visibly angered Kerr on the sideline.
Butler was responsible for only one of those turnovers, despite handling the ball on nearly every possession. Just as the Warriors thrive on Curry hitting the accelerator, racing around the court and taking (and often making) preposterous shots, they also feed off Butler’s more deliberate style.
He prospers in isolation, sometimes beating his defender to the hoop but more often beating his defender and making a slick pass. Butler is accomplished at getting to the free-throw line, long a Warriors weakness.
He offers a much-needed contrast to Curry, who terrorizes teams beyond the arc.
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“That is one of my main roles here, to get the rebound and slow the game down or swing the ball, make sure everyone gets in their spots,” Butler said. “I think everyone is cool with that.
“I love the organized chaos, I’m not going to lie to you. Nobody knows what to expect, not even myself, not even Coach.”
The only person who knows what’s coming out of the chaos, Butler suggested, is Curry.
Sunday night’s game illustrated another way Butler has changed these Warriors: on defense. They posted the NBA’s best defensive rating (109 points per 100 possessions) in two-plus months with him, and they also led the league in steals per game, forcing turnovers and points per turnovers during that span.
That foreshadowed what happened in the playoff opener. The Warriors forced the Rockets into 17 turnovers, leading to 25 points. Houston shot only 39.1% and scored a season-low 85 points, in part because Butler gave Draymond Green a defensive co-star.
“He allows us to match up differently at times, because he’s so versatile,” Green said. “You can throw him on bigs at times, you can throw him on point guards, you can kind of move him all over the court. He’s been great on that side of the ball as well.”
If Butler is driving the Warriors’ car, this could be quite a ride.
