When Stephen Curry suffered a hamstring injury in Game 1 of the Golden State Warriors‘ playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, many felt their team had enough to hold the fort until he returned in Game 6. After all, they were up 1-0 and had Jimmy Butler on the roster.
But instead of taking over, Butler struggled throughout the rest of the series. As a result, the Dubs lost four straight games and were eliminated in Game 5.
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Carmelo Anthony discussed what happened to the Warriors star, whom the organization acquired via a mid-season trade with the Miami Heat.
“When you first get to the team, you have this level of excitement and adrenaline, and like everybody’s excited and it just gets going. But when the sh** dies down and settles in, when the house settles in, and now we got to make this playoff run, the excitement is there, the adrenaline is there, but now, you don’t know how Steph Curry operates at that level. So the more Steph Curry digs into that well, and you don’t have that experience of Steph digging in that deeper into that well and what happens with that,” explained Melo.
Butler was the perfect Robin to Steph’s Batman
The Warriors finished the regular season with a 23-8 record after acquiring Butler at the trade deadline. Although they still needed the Play-in tournament to formalize their entry to the playoffs, the Western Conference team standings were very close, and they were just two wins off the No.3 Los Angeles Lakers.
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Despite being the seventh seed, the Warriors upset the second-seeded Houston Rockets in the first round and looked like they had a good chance against the Timberwolves after stealing Game 1 in Minnesota, 99-88.
Butler thrived in the regular season, becoming the fastest Warrior to accumulate 300+ points, 100+ rebounds, and 100+ assists in a record time of just 20 games. But once Curry suffered a Grade 1 sprain, “Playoff Jimmy” was nowhere to be found.
But then Steph got hurt and everything fell apart
Steph was ruled out for a week and was slated to miss at least three games. He ended up missing four, and the Timberwolves won all those games to eliminate the Warriors 4-1.
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“The time period was short, I would say. I’ll give them that,” added Anthony. “They made a hell of a move. They tried it. We probably would still be talking about them if Steph is not hurt. We’ve seen Jimmy at the height of what he can do, his possibilities, his talents, his will to win. But when you implement that to a system who’s a dynasty, and they have the way they play and no matter what, you have to find your way. And that’s not what you do. You don’t shoot threes. You don’t play like that. So now, that level of comfort starts to change.”
Jimmy averaged 20.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game versus Minnesota. But while the numbers were there, the impact wasn’t.
Critics, including his former teammate Udonis Haslem, later said that the whole “Playoff Jimmy” label was misleading. However, as Melo explained, it was impossible for Butler to take over because Golden State operates on a system custom-made for Curry, and Jimmy, for all his greatness, doesn’t play the same way.