San Francisco – During the last two months, visiting teams that pass through the Bay area have mentioned their name with reverence.
His own teammates and coaches talk about him with a more appropriate level of astonishment of the old deity than a basketball player.
And as the regular season of game 82 gives way to the postseason, “Playoff Jimmy”, the alter ego that Jimmy Butler takes from the end of April to June, is almost here.
Starting Tuesday in the game at the game of the game tournament against Memphis, the Warriors (48-34) expect that they can finally glimpse Butler, which was sent in a February trade at its best, since the franchise tries a fifth.
Butler has spent the last half decade carrying medium regular season teams to the hits of the playoffs that far exceed their talent level, taking two different teams from Miami of seed number 8 and the game in the NBA finals.
He has given Golden State about the veteran charge a look at the regular season duration, when it was the catalyst of a change that saw the Warriors go from not. 10 in the West to compete for a playoff seed among the top six during the last week of the season.
Although Butler is dealing with an injury to the thigh, expectations are still high for the future member of the Hall of Fame.
“It’s completely different,” said Drayond Green. “You have a guy who can slow the rhythm of the game for us and leads us to good things.”
Butler’s statistics have been excellent since they arrived from South Beach, averaging 17.9 points and 5.9 assists per game.
But its impact has gone beyond the statistics sheet.
The Warriors coach Steve Kerr, repeatedly said that the 35-year-old wing has “saved” the team’s season and “clarified” the Golden State hierarchical order, defining roles in the offensive and defense as the Warriors were 23-8 since their debut.
Butler has also given the Warriors a reliable and versatile creator in the ball with Steph Curry for the first time since Kevin Durant left after the 2019 season.
When the warriors need a player to get to the edge and find the open shooter, Butler can do that.
When some need to score in isolation, Butler can also do it.
Defend 1 through 4?
Nor is it a problem for a player who bought the mentality of the Warriors championships.
“So now it’s about my boys,” Butler said in March. “Whatever you need to do. Dray is in the same way, Steph is in the same way. All of us who have one leg in the League for a moment, just win at this time in our career.”
But Playoff Jimmy? Bring those same intangibles while also puts amazing numbers.
“It’s an alpha, and he’s outside and hears the ball and chickens to reach the foul line,” Kerr said. “You don’t have to go to the offensive, you just have to get it in space. What luxury is that.”
In 64 playoff games with the HEAT, he averaged 24.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.9 robberies for play against the best competition, improving his regular season averages.
He scored 40 against Milwaukee in a semifinal of the annoying conference in the Bubble of 2020, and then scored 40 and 35 in the two victories of the Miami number 8 on the Lakers in the final of that year.
In an impression of the final of the 2022 conference, Butler scored at least 40 points in four games and put 35 points and nine rebounds in a defeat of game 7 against Boston in the East finals.
And what about the game, a possible two -game glove in which the warriors are after hesitation in the section?
It is not much for Butler.
In 2023, the year after taking the Heat to the Eastern Conference finals, Butler supported him by dragging Miami from the game tournament to another position in the finals. He scored 31 in a game of win or home that pushed the heat to the playoffs, then He had consecutive 56 and 42 points to close the best sown bits in five games.
“We joke about that last week,” Curry said. “He entered the game game (last season) for two months. We would love to have that opportunity.”
Last year’s Heat also advanced the game tournament even though Butler fell with an ankle injury in the first game.
Then the nickname is well earned.
Now you are ready to help add the only piece that is missing to the impeccable curriculum of the playoff Jimmy: An NBA championship.
“We are just where we want to be,” Butler said. “We still have an opportunity and we control our own destiny. We will be fine.”
