Playoff Jimmy makes early appearance for Warriors in win vs. Bucks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – With bedlam all around him and the Warriors trending toward full self-immolation, Jimmy Butler III checked his mental clock and realized it was time to dig deeper into his bag than in any of his previous 16 games with the team.
From the end of the third quarter through the fourth on Tuesday night at Chase Center, Butler took charge. He showed proper respect for the ball. Scored when desperately needed. Fed others when it was the wise option. Turned the free-throw line into his den. He also found a way to intensify his defense.
Between Butler’s emergency turn-up and Draymond Green’s crafty and relentless defense that stifled the great Giannis Antetokounmpo, Golden State’s available veterans – with Stephen Curry out – met the moment and delivered a 104-93 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
“Either one is worth the headline,” coach Steve Kerr said of Butler and Green. “Draymond had defense tonight on Giannis. He was incredible to hold him to five field goals. Draymond showed why he’s still one of the great defenders in the world, and why he’s so important to winning games night after night. It wasn’t just the defense, it was the leadership, it was the energy …
“And Jimmy played the whole fourth and just took over the game.”
After their defense powered the Warriors to a 58-44 halftime lead, they got careless and started treating the ball like a live grenade. After committing five turnovers in the first half, they generated 10 in third quarter, giving the Bucks 14 points and putting them back into the game.
With the Warriors trailing 76-75 in the final seconds of the third quarter, Butler went to work. He drew a foul on a 3-point shot with 1.5 seconds left and made all three free throws, providing a 78-76 lead. He scored on a 3-point play in the first minute of the fourth quarter, and followed that with a midrange jumper that gave the Warriors an 83-76 lead.
“I’ve been playing in this league for 14 some years now, so I can tell,” Butler said. “I know when I need to get my guys involved. I know when somebody has it going. I know when somebody needs to shoot the ball. And I think that’s my job out there, to get the ball where it needs to go. When I need to score, be able to do that. When I need to get to the free-throw line, be able to do that. Get some stops.
“Whatever the team asks me to do, that’s what I got to do. I think I’ve got a good feel of that, because I’ve been doing it for a long time now.”
Butler finished with a game-high 24 points, a game-high 10 assists and eight rebounds. He either scored or assisted on 15 of 18 points over a six-minute span during which the Warriors restored order. He either scored or assisted on 23 of their final 29 points.
“We ran every play through him down the stretch,” Kerr said.
With Green limiting Antetokounmpo to 20 points, 10.4 below his average, on 5-of-16 shooting from the field, Milwaukee’s offense had only their 32-point third quarter, on 55-percent shooting, to celebrate. The Bucks scored 61 points in the other three quarters.
After failing to complete a comeback Monday night against a Denver Nuggets team without Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, the Warriors looked like a different team for all but that third quarter Tuesday night.
They followed Green’s defense and leadership and Butler’s late-game tour de force to find themselves back in the win column. The Warriors are 40-29, still in sixth place in the Western Conference. They’re 15-2 when Butler is in the lineup.
He was, on a night without Curry, Golden State’s salvation when things got tight.
“You know, he’s been telling you guys, like, when it’s time, he’ll know. And he’ll do it,” Kerr said. “Tonight, it was time.
“[Monday] night in the comeback, he kind of took over. He just does whatever is necessary. And I think [this was] a good game for us to play without Steph. Because it sort of forces the rest of the team to play a game without him and to play through Jimmy and to see what we’ve got.”
This was a glimpse of Playoff Jimmy, the fabled legend who worked wonders in Miami. With 13 regular-season games remaining, the Warriors surely hope they’ll see more of him – even before the postseason.
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