Jimmy Butler determined to bring Stephen Curry, Draymond Green another championship
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two months in and Jimmy Butler has become so comfortable with the Golden State Warriors that he is now shouting when someone takes a bad shot, or he is demanding the ball be in his hands if it has been a possession or two without having touched it.
Draymond Green, for one, is loving how Butler is taking charge — he is Playoff Jimmy after all and this is his time of year. He has earned it. He thrives on the postseason stage.
“He’s different. You can just see a whole different intensity level and focus. I’m a basketball fan and so I’ve watched it on TV for years,” Green said. “To see it up close and personal, it’s a real thing. Sometimes you get in the NBA and these guys get these nicknames and you’re like, ‘Man, stop it.’ There’s some other nicknames out there, they’re not real. That one’s real, and I’m happy he’s on our side.”
Butler chuckled and smiled when asked what he has been yelling lately.
“You want me to tell you what I said?” he said, “… Nah, they going to fine me.”
Green gladly shared the details.
“He go a couple possessions without touching the ball, he’s going crazy right now. Like, ‘I have to get the ball! I have to touch the ball!’” Green said. “So it’s been interesting to watch the shift, as someone who has been in a million playoff series, it’s been interesting to watch this year and I’m enjoying it.”
On Tuesday night, Butler helped the Warriors finally win a play-in game after going 0-3 in appearances last year and in 2021, so now he is ready to do everything he can to capture a championship and help Curry and Green bring home a fifth title.
With a few days off at last after beating the Grizzlies 121-116, Golden State has some much-needed rest and recovery before traveling to Texas to take on the Rockets. Game 1 in Houston is Sunday.
“I want everybody to be happy, for sure Steph, he deserves it, what he’s done for the game of basketball not only this city and this organization,” Butler said. “He’s in it for the long haul. He wants to win. He wants to win every single game, every single possession.”
Curry turned 37 last month and returning to the playoffs means so much, wrapping up his 16th NBA season after missing out in 2024.
“It’s easy to not take it for granted because we weren’t there last year,” he said. “From 2013 to ‘19, we made the Finals runs but we were in the playoffs every year and a two-year stretch where we missed it and then ’22 came around. It’s just a reminder that it’s not guaranteed, I don’t care how talented you are.”
Coach Steve Kerr felt the same way. He couldn’t wait to get to work with his staff on the game plan for a Rockets team that won 106-96 on the Warriors’ home floor April 6.
“This is what we do. I mean, this is so fun. This is the best time of the year. You know, this is Year 11,” Kerr said. “My favorite, maybe my favorite day of the season is tomorrow (Wednesday). We come in as a staff, we look at Houston tape. We start to put together our game plan. The players are resting. We’ve got a couple of days before we’ll see the players again. We get to go to work and try to beat a great team in a seven-game series. There’s nothing better. So I can’t wait.”
Butler, Curry and Green won’t be content with anything but a deep run.
Yet this hardly seemed possible mere months ago — before Butler got to town, that is.
The Warriors had begun 12-3 despite losing Klay Thompson to Dallas but then went 13-23, leaving their record at 25-26 when general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. pulled off the blockbuster trade.
“Our goal is to get to the playoffs so we can make something special happen, it’s not just to get there and the job’s done,” Green said. “We know what it takes to win at a high level so that’s the focus.”
Butler had 38 points, seven rebounds and six assists against Memphis while Curry scored 37. They hugged afterward.
Butler can’t help but be confident with Curry on his side.
“Hell, I think any team has a chance when I’m on the team, but I know that every team has a chance if Steph is on the team,” he said. “So I get to play Robin. That’s my Batman, and I don’t know who else is — we got all the villains over there, Two-Face and Joker and Riddler and everybody else in the Western Conference. But we got a lot of games to win.”
Before Butler even arrived to play his first game Feb. 8 after the trade from Miami, he promised Dunleavy, Kerr, Curry and Green that he would make a difference.
He knew the Warriors would make the playoffs with him.
“Whenever I talk to Steph and Dray and Steve and Mike before I even got here, I was telling them, I can help. Now, I don’t know in what manner that I can help, but we’re going to make the playoffs,” Butler recalled. “I feel like I can give any team, for sure this one, a chance to win, and they believe it. I believe it. And that’s all that you can ask for. Now we’ve just got to go out there, execute, play our tails off, and win some more basketball games.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer
