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Curry, Butler take turns taking over in Warriors’ comeback win over Bulls
Steph Curry dropped 24 points in the third quarter, swinging the game in Golden State’s direction.
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CHICAGO — Trading for Jimmy Butler started a sprint to the finish line in the Warriors’ last 31 games, with the break tape being a playoff spot.
They stumbled at the sound of the race gun in Butler’s debut, but recovered to leave a tank-tastic Bulls team in their dust.
Steph Curry went on an all-time scoring binge in the third quarter, turning a 24-point deficit into a lead entering the fourth. He poured in 24 points — four off his career-high in a quarter — while shooting 7-for-11 from the field and hitting five 3-pointers.
Curry added to his NBA record for 20-point frames, and Butler took over in his own way in the fourth quarter of a 132-111 comeback win.
Curry finished with 34 points and Butler added 25 on 7-for-12 shooting and 11-for-13 from the line. Together, they flipped the game so dramatically that neither needed to play in the last four minutes. Quinten Post (18 points) and Brandin Podziemski (16 points) also filled it up during Golden State’s second-half comeback in which the Warriors (26-26) outscored Chicago 77 to 40.
In his first two minutes as a Warrior, Butler jammed an alley-oop and muscled his way to the line for a pair of foul shots in his first two minutes as a Warrior.
He wasn’t on a minutes restriction, but given he’d played just five games in the past seven weeks, fatigue was to be expected. After four minutes of up-and-down play, he bent over at halfcourt with his hands on his knees, getting a rest as Steve Kerr called the wing timeout.
Wearing number 10 and “Butler III” on the back of his black and gold jersey, the wing gives the Warriors the type of offensive juice they’ve been lacking for months. He can knife his way into the paint, punish mismatches in the post and free teammates with off-ball screens and movement. With him, the Warriors won’t have the fourth-lowest free throw rate in the league for long.
Butler led the team in the non-Curry minutes to close the first quarter and start the second. He drove a closeout and dropped off a dime to Kevon Looney underneath the rim. It was the kind of play no Warriors outside of Curry has been capable of making: driving into the lane and staying under control to make the right decision.
Butler never practiced with the Warriors before Saturday night’s game and wasn’t even permitted to participate in morning shootaround because of logistical hurdles. He needs time to learn the Warriors’ terminology and playbook. He was out there with teammates he’d never played with, and it looked like it in the first half.
Chicago started the second quarter on a 15-0 run, sending Butler back to the bench at a timeout down seven and forcing Kerr to call another one a minute later.
Bulls reserve center Jalen Smith got hot from behind the arc, hitting four 3s and scoring 14 points in his first seven minutes. He keyed Chicago’s 25-2 run. In that stretch, the Warriors missed 11 straight shots, including nine 3s. They scored just two points in 6:45.
Butler fit in fine, but the Warriors around him tripped over themselves. Golden State gave up 38 points in the second quarter and 69 in the half, falling behind 69-55.
Then the Bulls, showing their record, melted down.
Going small with Draymond Green at center opened up things offensively for the Warriors in the second half, and the removal of Quinten Post aided their interior defense. After falling behind by 22, the Warriors ripped off a 31-9 run to claw within four.
Curry put a charge in the Warriors with a pull-up 3 over Nikola Vucevic and a four-point play. He later poured in an impossible lookaway 3 from the wing, dusted Patrick Williams in an isolation and sank another triple.
Curry dropped 24 in the third quarter, frying Chicago on a patented heater. He even skied in for an offensive rebound, leading to a Butler putback tap-in. After his fifth 3 of the period, Curry froze and admired his shot as it rippled through the net.
Butler sealed his man under the rim and caught a lob for an and-1 early in the fourth as Curry got some much-deserved rest. That was the start of seven straight points for Butler and a 9-0 run overall for the Warriors.
To give the Warriors a 16-point lead, Butler finished an and-1 reverse layup, pointing at Curry on the bench in celebration.
Curry took over the game and Butler blew it open. The Warriors could get used to that.
