Warriors' Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and a red flag
Warriors' Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and a red flag
Draymond Green just couldn’t keep his birthday wish a secret. Can you really blame him?
Just less than a month after the Golden State Warriors brought in Jimmy Butler, the four-time champion celebrated his 35th birthday in New York City after yet another victory—this time over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, easily the new-look Dubs’ best win since the trade deadline. Golden State is a gaudy 9-1 with Butler in the lineup entering Thursday’s tilt with the Brooklyn Nets, vaulting several spots up the crowded Western Conference standings.
Avoiding the play-in tournament isn’t this team’s goal anymore. The Warriors are in sole possession of sixth place out West, with the slumping Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies just a few games above them. Home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs would sure be a coup for Golden State, especially considering the long postseason road Green increasingly believes the Dubs will take to another title.
“Y’all know what my wish is?” he rhetorically asked a room full of Warriors players and staffers late Tuesday night, leaning in toward a birthday cake shaped like the only NBA jersey he’s ever worn. “That’s why it’s five candles.”
Green didn’t need sustained proof of concept with Butler in blue and gold nor the celebratory occasion of officially hitting his mid-30s to tease winning a fifth championship with Golden State. He'd previously guaranteed hoisting yet another Larry O’Brien Trophy during All-Star Weekend in the Bay Area, barely more than a week after the Warriors acquired that long-elusive second star to pair with Steph Curry.
“I said, ‘I think we’re gonna win a championship, but I lied,” Green quipped on Feb. 15, live from the TNT set outside Chase Center. “We are going to win the championship.”
Fulfilling that promise seems more plausible now than it did during the All-Star break.
The Dubs own the NBA’s third-best record since Butler debuted, the same rank as their +13.3 net rating. They’re also top-five in both offensive and defensive rating, a feat of two-way prowess only matched by the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers.
Curry has firmly put pre All-Star shooting struggles in the rearview mirror, currently playing his best basketball of 2024-25. While Butler definitely hasn’t flipped the switch to playoff mode, his presence alone has so far solved Golden State’s longstanding inability to stay afloat with Curry on the bench. Jonathan Kuminga’s return from a badly sprained ankle still looms.
Have these Warriors even scraped their ceiling yet? The midseason integration of a force like Butler amid Kuminga’s extended absence—not to mention Green’s typically brash confidence and Curry continuing to stave off Father Time—suggest otherwise. Golden State’s best may still lie ahead, perhaps coming at the perfect time.
Green, Curry, Butler and Steve Kerr no doubt think so. Talking heads and network executives are dreaming of the Dubs returning to the league’s brightest stage. Excitable fans might as well be planning another championship parade.
But with just 20 games left in the regular season, it’s still too soon to call the revamped, reinvigorated and surging Warriors title contenders.
Warriors have preyed on weak opponents
Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III (10) is congratulated by guard Stephen Curry (30) after a basket against the Charlotte Hornets in the third quarter at the Chase Center.
Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III (10) is congratulated by guard Stephen Curry (30) after a basket against the Charlotte Hornets in the third quarter at the Chase Center.
“Really good win. They all count, obviously, but this felt good,” Kerr said following Golden State’s win in New York City. “On the road, on a back-to-back against a really great team.”
The physical and mental toughness the Warriors played with on Tuesday is indisputable. So is the immediate on-court chemistry between their three future Hall of Famers. What’s definitely debatable is whether the Knicks, boasting the league’s fourth-highest win percentage this season, are close to the same team without Karl Anthony-Towns.
The five-time All-Star missed the 104-92 loss to Golden State due to personal reasons. The Knicks’ elite 120.4 offensive rating with Towns on the floor dips all the way down to 111.1 when he’s on the bench, per NBA.com/stats, a +9.3 discrepancy that’s biggest on the roster. Tom Thibodeau rose the coaching ranks as a defensive maestro, but his team still cuts its contending teeth on the other end, where Towns’ outside-inside dynamism makes life hell for defenders and far easier for teammates.
The Warriors’ ninth win in 11 games moved New York to 3-3 this season sans Towns. The Knicks are one of four opponents with a winning record Golden State beat over that stretch. They also ran past the Chicago Bulls in Butler’s first game, blew out the Charlotte Hornets twice, came back to best the Orlando Magic behind a scintillating Curry’s 56 points, and fell to the decimated, woebegone Philadelphia 76ers as Butler rested a sore back.
Road wins over the Knicks, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings, and even the Luka Doncic-less Dallas Mavericks are impressive on paper. There’s no need for any team to apologize for beating the foe in front of them, either. But just like New York wasn’t close to its best without Towns, neither were any of the playoff shoo-ins or hopefuls the Dubs have dispatched since Butler’s arrival.
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Golden State took down the Bucks as an injured Giannis Antetokounmpo watched from the sidelines. Houston’s game-changing depth was squashed without Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason. Sacramento was at least whole after swapping De’Aaron Fox for Zach LaVine, but deployed a now-defunct defensive strategy that allowed the Dubs to splash 20 triples—and immediately prompted a four-game winning streak once it was scratched. Though Kyrie Irving was still healthy for Dallas’ hard-fought win and embarrassing subsequent loss to the Warriors, Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford were all sidelined for both games.
Try your best to tune out the cacophonous euphoria of Golden State’s recent dominance, basically. There’s a lot of noise surrounding the Warriors’ performance with Butler, and not just because their defense has been artificially lifted by opponents shooting 31.3% from deep when he plays without Curry, per pbpstats.com.
The reality is that Golden State’s meteoric rise up the standings has come without beating a playoff team that will look anything like it does in April, May and June.
Where does Golden State stack up in overhauled Western Conference?
Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler (10) and guard Stephen Curry (30) during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors at the American Airlines Center.
Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler (10) and guard Stephen Curry (30) during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors at the American Airlines Center.
The Dubs' remaining schedule is forgiving, but they'll still have ample opportunity to prove their contending bonafides before regular season's end.
Towns should be back in the lineup when New York comes to San Francisco on March 15, the beginning of a three-game stretch that finishes with clashes versus the Bucks and Denver Nuggets. Golden State then faces an extremely tough quartet of contests in early April against the Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers, Rockets and Nuggets.
We won't be relegated to relying on the Warriors' initial success with Butler nor Green's guarantee and birthday wish to assess where they stand in the West leading up to the playoffs. Those groups of games will be far more revealing than anything that has transpired over the last month.
Where might Golden State fall in the pecking order of Western Conference contention by then?
It's foolish to question the Oklahoma City Thunder's status as prohibitive favorites, especially as Chet Holmgren re-acclimates returning from injury. Nikola Jokic has put together arguably the greatest offensive season ever, pulling Denver up the standings while Jamal Murray rounds back toward peak form.
Beyond the Thunder and Nuggets, though, there just isn't any competition for Golden State to outright fear on its quest back to the NBA Finals.
It's no coincidence the Warriors and Lakers have thrived since adding two of the most devastating postseason performers in recent NBA history. They'd be underdogs, but Curry and Butler could absolutely outduel James and Doncic in a momentous potential playoff matchup with Los Angeles.
The Grizzlies are floundering, with Jaren Jackson Jr. shelved by an ankle injury and Ja Morant's frustration mounting while managing a nagging right shoulder injury. The young Rockets just aren't ready to compete at the game's highest levels offensively. The Los Angeles Clippers obviously can't be counted on. The Minnesota Timberwolves don't come close to matching Golden State's top-end talent. The Phoenix Suns are dead in the water.
Make no mistake: It will take a major upset for the Warriors to win the West before Curry hangs it up, let alone win another title. But no one will want to try and match the will, wits and experience of this team in the playoffs, whether or not Golden State makes good on its recent success with Butler over the season's remainder.