If ever there was a single-game case for Stephen Curry still being the most valuable player in the NBAThursday night was it. The Golden State Warriors looked beyond lost — even downright inept at times — without him in a 117-93 Game 2 drubbing at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The series is now tied 1-1 heading to San Francisco for Game 3 on Saturday, and no, Curry won’t be back for that one, either. He’s likely out through at least Game 5, meaning the Warriors have to win one out of the next three games in this series to even still be alive by the time Curry can go.
It’s probably only doable if this “Jimmy Buckets” character everyone keeps talking about actually shows up. In Game 2 it was more of the same “connector” stuff from Jimmy Butlerwho attempted just nine shots through the first three quarters when the Warriors needed him more than ever to pick up his scoring, or at least try to, in Curry’s absence.
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And even most of those nine shots felt like Butler was forced into taking them. Either it was the end of the shot clock or the Wolves left him so open behind the 3-point line he that didn’t have a choice. There is getting other guys involved and there is saddling inferior players with creative responsibility they are not cut out to handle on account of your own hesitance, and Butler spends a lot of time flirting with the wrong side of that line.
Even in Game 1, when Butler finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, he was a circumstantial scorer to a much larger degree than that total would indicate. He’s an opportunist — drawing a late-clock foul here, finding himself wide open on a cut there, et cetera.
But devoid of red-carpet paths to the basket, Butler doesn’t discriminate when it comes to passing the buck. He will kick it out 20 feet to Kevon Looney at the 3-point line against a dwindling shot clock if it means he can avoid attempting an even halfway contested shot. Buddy Hield was the guy actually looking to take and make the big shots in Game 1, same as Game 7 against the Rockets, and in both cases he came through big time.
You can say Butler made a lot of those shots possible. You can also say that Hield took the initiative that Butler was not willing to take. The answer is probably somewhere in the middle.
Either way, In full context, sure, Butler has had an indisputably positive impact on the Warriors, who became an instantly different team the second he showed up from the Miami Heat at the trade deadline. But that big-picture fact, and all the praise that has been showered upon him as a result, has largely shielded him from having to answer questions about his jarring reluctance to shoot, and score in general, until all other options, even considerably less optimal ones, have been exhausted.
As it happens, CBS Sports’ Colin Ward-Henninger did write about this “why is Butler being so passive?” phenomenon about five weeks after the deadline, when Butler told reporters: “When it’s my time, you’ll know it’s my time.”
It begs the question: If Game 2 of the conference semifinals with Curry in street clothes isn’t timewhen, exactly, will it be? Theories abound as to why Butler is suddenly such a reluctant scorer. First of all, this isn’t completely sudden. He’s always played like this to a degree, careful and selective right up to line of hesitance, but he also always had the ability to break out of his comfort zone and start truly hunting offense in the big moments.
“I don’t have a burden or expectation. I play basketball the right way,” Butler said after Game 2. “I will continue to play basketball the right way. If that time comes where your people that are saying whatever, supposed to score 40 or whatever the case may be. I’m capable of it. I can do it. But I love making sure my guys are comfortable. Passing the ball to them.”
So that’s why he’s not trying to score even when his team desperately needs him to? Because he doesn’t want to? He can just go out there and put up 40 for an offense that is suffocating without Curry’s scoring but doesn’t want to?
Let’s hope that just came out a little wrong, because that sounds truly ridiculous. Let’s hope there’s another reason Butler isn’t being aggressive to score. Perhaps the pelvis and gluteal contusion he suffered in the first round is still hampering him? Perhaps he’s pacing himself, knowing he only has one or two big games in him without Curry there to take the defensive focus away from him, and he’s betting his full efforts will have a better chance of resulting in a win in Game 3 or 4 at Chase Center?
Or, and stay with me here, is it possible that he’s just not capable of being that guy anymore?
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Butler sure has made it a point to drum home his Robin status to Curry’s Batman. He talks about it every chance he gets. Maybe he’s trying to tell us something. If he is, it’s understandable. He’s 35 years old with a lot of really hard playoff miles on his body. Nicknames like “Jimmy Buckets” tend to carry outsized expectations long after the player behind the moniker has diminished. Larry Bird wasn’t “Larry Legend” forever, even if people wanted desperately to think of him that way.
Butler is still, obviously, a very good player — even a great one in the perfect situation, which he seemingly found with the Warriors alongside Curry. Those two together are the best duo the NBA has going right now. But if the Warriors want to see them play together again this season, Butler is going to have to step a little bit outside of himself and at least try to rediscover whatever is left of his superhero form.
