Butler-Warriors union still work in progress, even after another win

Butler-Warriors union still work in progress, even after another win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Warriors in their loss against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday saw exactly how much of a difference Jimmy Butler has made to the team and their season, and why at 35 years old he’s worth every penny, dollar and comma in the contract he immediately signed upon being traded by the Miami Heat.

In the Warriors’ 119-101 win on Monday night against the Charlotte Hornets, the on-court product at Spectrum Center showed why there’s still a lot of room for improvement in this happy marriage between player and team.

When Butler only scored six points against the Hornets six days ago in the Warriors’ 36-point win at Chase Center, it wasn’t noticeable at all. Butler added eight rebounds, five assists and a steal. His scoring wasn’t needed or necessary in a game where the Warriors led by as many as 39 points, dominating from start to finish.

Playing a Sixers team that had lost nine straight, Butler, who didn’t play because of back spasms, was badly missed in the Warriors’ loss. Then the game began Monday night in Charlotte, and Butler was an afterthought. He didn’t seem to have his usual burst, especially offensively.

Against a 14-win Hornets team, Butler’s fit with the Warriors wasn’t seamless. It was clunky at best. Something was off.

“He’s at his best when the ball is moving,” Steve Kerr told reporters after the win. “I think we can do a better job of getting him involved by not letting the ball stick early in possessions.”

Butler scored the Warriors’ first two points of the game in the opening possession. How those two points were generated was Warriors basketball at its purest, serving as an example of what they expected when pairing Butler and Steph Curry.

As Brandin Podziemski initiated the offense at the of the arc, he used a screen from Draymond Green and swung a left-handed pass for Butler at the right wing. Butler assessed in an instant before using Curry with a dribble-handoff and hit a 16-foot jumper in motion off a bounce pass from Steph.

His only other shot the rest of the quarter was a 3-pointer from the right corner while the shot clock only had a few seconds left. That’s not an ideal shot, nor is watching him spectate as he did during the possession where he wasn’t part of the action.

Butler took just four shots in the first half, two in each quarter. His first attempt in the second quarter was another missed three, this time from the left wing with the shot clock again running out of time. After making the first shot of the game, his next two points were the Warriors’ final two of the first half, with 1:10 remaining.

Though the process was much different, it again was a shining example of how Butler best operates. Butler sprinted along the baseline, looking like he was getting to the right corner, but right when the ball touched Green’s hands, Butler freed himself from Nick Smith Jr. on a back cut, darting to the hoop and catching a dime from Draymond. Butler jump stopped on two feet and converted a tough layup.

“If he can get it on the backside of a possession after it’s moved three or four times, he’s unstoppable on that drive and he creates so much for his teammates,” Kerr said. “I thought the first half it was catch and hold. Catch and hold. He wasn’t engaged, he wasn’t involved, and that’s on us as a team.

“We have to play with ball movement and flow and rhythm.”

There wasn’t a flow or rhythm between Butler and the Warriors. Sure, he ended up a plus-15 after being a plus-12 in the second half, but the eye test was obvious. He only took three more shots in the second half, and he only had three rebounds and four assists to go with his 13 points, six coming from the free-throw line.

Butler scored 25 points in first game as a Warrior, and followed that team debut by scoring 20 and 21 points his next two games. He hasn’t scored 20 points since, though his next three games after his first three brought 19, 17 and 18 points. Yet Butler now has scored a total of 17 points in his last three games.

Scoring isn’t the single asset he brings to the Warriors. Butler has lifted the game of so many around him. He’s a connector, but that should come secondary when Curry is watching from the bench. A Butler takeover will be needed, in the playoffs and the lead up to them too.

“It’s still a work in progress, but I love Jimmy’s fit here,” Kerr said. “He’s perfect next to Steph and Dray, and it’s showing. I think we’re 8-1 since we got him with him in the lineup. That’s not by accident.”

No, it’s not. The Warriors now are the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, a mountain that seemed impossible to climb pre-Butler. Post-Butler is a new world.

The areas needing attention and the screws that still need tightening were just as obvious as ever Saturday, however, even against a team the Warriors beat by almost 40 points not even a week ago.

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