Butler shows he’s everything Warriors weren’t in debut vs. Bulls originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
CHICAGO – The wrong questions were being asked about Jimmy Butler and how he would fit the Warriors’ offense in Steve Kerr’s system. All it took was the first three possessions of Saturday night’s 132-111 comeback win against the Chicago Bulls at United Center for Butler, who hadn’t played a game in two and a half weeks, to showcase he’s everything the Warriors weren’t before acquiring him in his team debut.
“He’s like the exact opposite of me, which is funny,” Steph Curry said. “I shot 16 threes, he shot one. He got to the free-throw line a lot. He’s dominating the paint, I’m dominating outside the perimeter. Guys are working around us. It has the potential to be really fun.”
Curry has played for one team his entire 16-year NBA career. Butler now is on his fifth team in his 14th season. Frustrations from Curry have been felt and seen throughout the Warriors’ up-and-down 2024-25 NBA season, though he’s the last one to cause a scene. There’s no reason to rehash how Butler’s time with the Miami Heat ended, or his previous stops along his career.
That story has been written. A new chapter began where it all started for the Warriors’ newest star.
“They say opposites attract in a lot of ways in life,” Butler said. “I don’t think I could be a better complement to him, and vice versa, in the sense that they’re not leaving him – ever. Probably two people will never leave him, so there’s so much space for everybody else. I get the easy job playing 1-on-1 where I’m playing so much in space. And then everybody’s looking for him and looking for him and looking to get him open.
“At the same time, he’s looking for everybody else. It’s so great to play with somebody like that.”
Behind a 24-point third-quarter flurry that shifted the tides in the Warriors’ favor, Curry scored a game-high 34 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Curry made eight 3-pointers on 16 attempts and was 6 of 8 at the free-throw line, a rare night of multiple misses at the charity stripe.
Then there’s the way Butler got his buckets. Butler walked into 25 points. He took one 3-pointer and missed it. But he owned the paint between his length, strength and soft touch, going 7 of 11 on two-pointers.
The Warriors won the opening tip and immediately put the ball in Butler’s hands. The newcomer who essentially doesn’t know any of the Warriors’ plays navigated the scene and found Buddy Hield for an easy 3-pointer. On the Warriors’ next possession, Butler baited Josh Giddey into thinking he was going to use Curry’s screen and dart to the left, instead sprinting around to his right and leaping to throw down an alley-oop for his first two points in a Golden State jersey.
Yet it was the third time the Warriors were on offense where Butler made his mark as a main ingredient that has been missing from the Warriors. Butler rejected an inverted screen set by Curry, attacked the paint and drew a foul. Two points the easy way.
Butler attempted 13 free throws and made 11. His 13 attempts are two fewer than the Warriors’ high this season, and his 11 makes tied the Warriors’ season high. They also set a new Warriors record for a player making his team debut.
The Warriors don’t get to the rim or the free-throw line. They do now. At least one player does, and he’s elite at doing both.
“It gives us confidence that we can get easy points to stop momentum, or to build momentum for us,” Kerr said. “To stop a run from the other team, getting to the line is the best thing you can do. It takes the crowd out of it. It allows you to set up your defense. I think that was a big part of the night, Jimmy’s 13 free throws.”
The second quarter couldn’t have gone much worse for the Warriors. They allowed the Bulls to open the quarter on a 15-0 run, which was an 18-0 run culminating with the end of the first. Just three and a half minutes into the second half, the Warriors were down by 24 points on the road, a hole that in the past they would have buried themselves at center court as opposed to digging their way out. Not on this night.
Not with Butler now a Warrior. The Warriors then went on a 12-0 run that led to them being ahead by as many 25 points, which ironically enough started from two made free throws from Butler.
All 6-foot-7 of Butler got up to snag a crowded entry pass from Draymond Green. Butler before the game told Green to simply get the ball in the air, and his hands will find a way to haul it in. He did, forcing rookie Mata Buzelis to foul him, resulting in two more points off free throws for Butler.
Later in the game, early in the fourth quarter, Green tried a near full-court heave to Butler that was out of reach despite his jumping effort to grab it. Butler was furious — not at Green, but himself.
Even from the media seating, Green’s smile could be felt. He took immediate accountability but loved Butler’s passion.
Kerr called Butler a “lion.” His presence is impossible to ignore. It hangs in the air and is felt by all. There aren’t hanging heads, only a sense of knowing the game can shift in favor of a team that has Butler, Curry and Green leading the charge.
“At no point was it ever like, ahh body language’s dropping or anything like that. And that’s kind of what you’ve seen this year,” Green said. “We get down and it’s kind of like snake-bitten mentality. It was total opposite, which is why we came back no problem.”
The Warriors changed the game. Every team tried for so long to find ways to beat them, and also to emulate them. The game caught up. Butler is everything the Warriors aren’t, giving Golden State the paradoxical answer they’ve been searching for.
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