As I said in the last post, the formula for Game 4 actually worked for about 29 minutes, then Jimmy Butler — who is part of that formula — couldn’t answer down 74-68 as he got called for an offensive hook on a drive and a couple possessions later, couldn’t hit a tough fade in the paint, and Anthony Edwards made him pay with a pull up three in Butler’s face nine seconds later. Timeout, Wolves got the buffer they needed, now at 80-68. Two-and-a-half minutes prior, a Jimmy stop-and-pop jumper over Rudy Gobert at the elbow had tied the game, 68-68.
Then on the podium, Draymond Green told us Jimmy was under the weather. Yesterday, Steve Kerr said Butler is good to go (see transcript below) and this morning at shootaround, Buddy Hield confirmed that also told reporters he tried to give Jimmy some chicken soup.
“He didn’t veg for me. He didn’t take it from me, so he didn’t trust me, so I tried to get him right,” said Hield. “Some souse. Some Bahamian souse. Some Bahamian souse will get him right.”
As far as the game tonight, I’m curious to see if there’s a Warrior who will step up with his back against the wall. Looking at his history of such must-win games, Draymond Green has the most impressive record.
But even Klay Thompson didn’t necessarily play out of his mind, especially early in his career? although he’s the namesake of Game 6 Klay. Then again, all those games included one Wardell Steph Curry as an active player.
So I’m a little more forgiving to Brandin Podziemski, who’s had some startling bad shooting stats since his breakout scoring performance in Game 4 versus Houston.
I wonder if Moses Moody is a guy who could have a breakout game?
I’d also like to see Quinten Post experimented with for some pop on offense, but also obviously in our defensive zone as he’s too slow-footed for when the Wolves run pick-and-roll with Gobert.
And finally, should the squad get down, like, oh idk, 80-68, I’d prefer to see the five “youngsters” all subbed in with the full-court press to get a double-digit deficit back to single-digits, SWAT-team style,
This identity doesn’t have the three-point shooting or talent to recover from a double-digit deficit, imo. And Minnesota tends to throw the ball away a lot. They’re not that great at full-court pressure, which is not something the Warriors really can do with older guys like Jimmy out there.
Kerr talked about going deep into the rotation (or not, see transcripts below the paywall, to be unlocked after the next article posts).
Included below are scenes from morning shootaround including Steph hitting his only shot right before he walked back to the locker room…
….as well as Q&As from Buddy and Trayce Jackson-Davis this morning (in embedded video above), the off-day with Steve, and Game 4 postgame with Kerr, Draymond, Kevon Looney, and Jonathan Kuminga, in chronological order: