The Warriors teetered on the brink of disaster in the third quarter of Tuesday night’s game at Chase Center.
But Golden State stabilized itself and pulled out a 104-93 win over the Milwaukee Bucks to improve to 40-29 this season.
The Warriors led by as many as 17 in the second quarter and by 14 at halftime, but the Bucks quickly erased the deficit in the third quarter and managed to take a six-point lead before Jimmy Butler took over, steering Golden State to a much-needed win.
So what was Butler’s message to the Warriors as the Bucks won the third quarter 32-20?
“That this is a game of runs,” Butler told Bonta Hill, Chris Mullin and Festus Ezeli on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Warriors Postgame Live” moments after the win. “We knew that they missed shots in the first half and they were going to make some in the second. But we got away from doing what we were doing, closing out, making it difficult. We got back to doing that and took the lead back.”
Butler led the way with a game-high 24 points, but 16 came in the second half on 4-of-9 shooting from the field and 8 for 8 from the free-throw line.
With Steph Curry resting, the Warriors needed Playoff Jimmy to take centerstage and he did just that.
Coming off a disastrous loss to the short-handed Denver Nuggets on Monday night, the Warriors didn’t crumble when the Bucks erupted in the third quarter.
Earlier in the season, the Warriors likely wouldn’t have made the in-game adjustments to pull out the win. But Butler has added a different element and it was on display Tuesday night.
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