Jimmy Butler played the classic card “This is just other game” before his return to Miami with a Warriors uniform on Tuesday night, but may be sure, scoring 11 points in a loss of 26 points in the Golden State definitely was not what he had in mind.
You can also be sure that heat playing like this was not an accident. They came to have lost 10 of their last 11 and suddenly seemed revitalized. Butler, who was honored before the game with a Video tribute and Drew a warm reaction From a multitude of Miami mostly indifferent and of the late task, he definitely took it out in his former team.
Bam Adebayo hardly waited a minute before immersing Butler.
As for their current team, the Warriors have lost two followed without Stephen Curry, who is in repair after a hard fall last weekto effectively fall below the playoff line. Yes, the classification shows them ahead of the clippers for seed No. 6, but they are tied in the loss column and the owner of the tiebreaker.
The good news for the Warriors is that they have two days off and is expected to return to Curry on Friday when they play in New Orleans, which should be a victory. Then they play the Spurs, which should be another victory. But these losses are enormous since the Warriors walk along the very fine line between the bench of a place in the playoffs and have to win their way, which would not be a blockade.
In a set of a game, anything can happen. They would get the Timberwolves in confrontation 7-8 if the season ended today, and Minnesota, finalist of the conference last season that has one of the seven or eight best players in the league in Anthony Edwards and has received a solid game of Julius Randle, would be a true test. If they lost that, they would play Ether Sacramento or Phoenix in a unique situation. Even if they won that, they would coincide with sown No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.
Heat will give Jimmy Butler a tribute video, but the star of now Warriors sounds indifferent about the return of Miami
Jasmyn Wimbish
This is not a scenario with which Golden State wants to flirt, and it seemed that they were vaporizing towards a safe playoff place with 15 wins in their first 18 games with Butler on board. But they have slipped. They had a terrible loss against Denver, who was playing without Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Christian Braun, and now the Hawks and Heat have surpassed them for 35 points.
Butler has been mostly excellent for warriors, although a little frustrating In its disability, or sometimes the lack of will, to end on the edge. It has been a connector and stabilizer and has given the Warriors what could be a threat of free throws that change the season. But in general, it has been relatively passive as a scorer. He scored two points in the first half on Tuesday. By the time he became a bit aggressive, the Warriors lowered 17 at the break, and did not score a single point in the fourth quarter before being taken with seven minutes and a change to go.
There is a methodical element in Butler’s game to appreciate, but it can move on to discomfort. Even when he stops, he sometimes has a failure and has lacked any appearance of vertical explosion in attempts like this on Tuesday, which Kel’el Ware hit.
Said all this, Butler was never supposed to be the type of reference for this Warriors team. It has been shown that it can be a star in a secondary role for Curry, and the hope is that the playoff Jimmy is still there somewhere, because a point will probably arrive in the postseason in which Golden State will need it to really take over.
But for tonight in Miami, Butler, whose passivity (and the defense of Adebayo) was perhaps more evident in his only attempt at free throws, did not have it. And by extension, not the warriors.
