SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jimmy Butler had places to be, and he loudly let everybody know it.
He needed to immediately rush off from a game to teach a late-night dominoes lesson. But, not before he hit teammate Buddy Hield with some fun-loving trash talk: “Buddy, spell connector.”
So, Hield began, “Connect Four? Connector? ... Connector, C-O-N," then someone nearby interjected to help.
“Aww, man, don't help him!” Butler hollered. “Exactly my point, y'all see that?”
Shortly beforehand, Hield had described Butler with that very word — connector.
Butler downplayed the compliment: “Don't listen to nothing Buddy says, ever, he can't even spell connector.”
Yet nobody around the Warriors will argue that Butler has been just that since he joined Golden State last month in a trade from Miami and helped turn things around from the very moment he showed up and pulled on his new uniform.
“He stabilized everything immediately,” Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Monday when his team beat Golden State 114-105.
Butler will be counted on even more as Stephen Curry recovers from a pelvic injury that he suffered on Thursday night. Curry will not play in the Warriors' game against the Hawks on Saturday.
Any injury to Curry is a concern for Golden State, but Butler is thrilled to be part of the playoff push and playing alongside Curry and Draymond Green as they attempt to chase another championship.
“All the value just lies within winning as a whole,” Butler recently said. “I'm glad that I have the opportunity to be a part of the winning that we're doing here. We're just playing some incredible basketball, playing together on both sides of the floor and it's really fun.”
He notched Golden State's first triple-double of the season March 10 against Portland, saying afterward, “you can't get a triple-double without your teammates.”
Curry admires Butler's consistency
The Warriors won 14 of the first 15 games Butler played to boost their position in the deep Western Conference. They are 16-3 since acquiring Butler and Curry is impressed with how comfortable Butler became right away, finding his familiarity in a new system.
“None of us are going to get off on regular-season accomplishments,” Curry said. “We have to perform and put ourselves in playoff position to be a team that nobody wants to face and be a tough out no matter who the matchup is. We're building toward that. It's pretty clear as day the difference in not just the record but how we're playing, how we're winning and his impact on the game.”
Curry admires Butler for being “super consistent, a professional, there’s been a lot of eyeballs on him all season, pre-trade, post-trade and all that, but I love the way he’s approached everything.”
So, how good is Butler's dominoes game?
“Great, I'm probably the best in the world,” the 35-year-old forward said, noting he plays “every day, too many hours out of the day.”
In addition to the fun they're all having behind the scenes, Butler's impact on both ends of the court has taken some of the pressure off Curry. The Warriors are rolling again and general manager Mike Dunleavy is being praised for taking the chance on a big trade — one that sent high-scoring Andrew Wiggins to South Florida.
Kerr: Butler makes everyone better
Butler will play at Miami on Tuesday night in his return with Golden State. He is pulling down timely offensive rebounds. He runs the point and creates shots for everybody, taking his own when he sees fit.
“Great basketball player. He does everything well, he sees the game, he's strong, loves to pass, the game just flows when he's out there,” coach Steve Kerr said. “And he feels it. Whatever the game calls for, Jimmy brings and he's the main reason that things have turned for us. He's one of the best players in the league and he makes everybody else around him better.”
In January, Butler was unhappy in Miami and seeking a change — "I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball, wherever that may be," he said — yearning to be a winner and make a difference.
Butler found his fit way out West.
“He affects winning, and winning affects everything else,” guard Moses Moody said. “When we're playing good it's a lot easier to be cool off the court. He is who he is. He has a big presence, he's authentic to himself, so he does do the candles, music, however he's feeling whatever it is. He definitely has a presence in the locker room. He's a real dude, and real dudes are contagious.”
And “Playoff Jimmy,” as he has become known for his clutch performances on the postseason stage, is doing it all to boost Golden State's positioning in the stretch run.
“I think since Day 1 when Jimmy arrived in the bay he's been ‘Playoff Jimmy.' He couldn't wait and they couldn't wait,” Malone said. “When you go to a new team and new surroundings and a new culture, he's come in from Day 1 and I think just been Jimmy Butler and the best version of Jimmy Butler."
And Butler insists he hasn't changed anything competing alongside Curry and Green — he knew them plenty well already as an opponent.
“I play the same way, shoot the ball when I’m open, pass it more often than not and play some defense,” he said. “I think it’s everything that I expected, everything that I could actually dream of, too, if we’re being brutally honest. They just want to win, there ain’t no individual goals here, they don’t care who scores, they don’t care who gets triple-doubles, they don’t care about none of that. All they want to do is win a championship.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
Janie Mccauley, The Associated Press