MIAMI – The quickest solution to make sure the Warriors don’t spiral and fall to the NBA play-in tournament is obvious: Have a healthy Steph Curry.
That always has been the case, even in the past with Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and any other star, and it remains the same with the addition of Jimmy Butler.
"We definitely need 30 back,” Butler said Tuesday night. “But we want him to be right. We’re still expected to win. We got to put out a better effort than we have the last two games. If he’s back, I think it’ll be different."
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Golden State dropped its second straight game without Curry as he recovers from a pelvic contusion after taking a hard fall Saturday in the Warriors’ win against the Toronto Raptors. He’s considered day-to-day and is expected to play Friday in New Orleans against the Pelicans, barring any setbacks.
The Warriors are playing a tough balancing act, knowing how badly they need Curry in a heated battle to remain as at least the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, conversely knowing him being as close to full strength as possible for a playoff push is their only chance at making a real run at title contention.
With or without him, there are glaring deficiencies that must be resolved immediately.
Butler’s addition has made the Warriors a much better fourth-quarter team, giving them a closer they can rely on to shut the door alongside Curry. The start of games remains an issue, as seen in the Warriors’ last two losses. To start a six-game road trip, the Warriors looked like a team that traveled across the country and had to wipe off cobwebs, allowing 40 points to the Atlanta Hawks in the first quarter. Any motivation to play for Butler wasn’t enough medication to beat the South Beach flu, falling into a 17-point halftime deficit to the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.
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What needs to change couldn’t be more clear to Butler after having his first losing streak since joining the Warriors.
“Probably the effort coming out of the jump,” Butler said. “We’ve got to guard a little better. Seems like as of late everyone’s been scoring at will at the rim, in the mid, at the three, getting to the free-throw line. We’ve gotten away from what got us a couple of wins.”
Over and over again, the Warriors have emphasized how every team gives them their best effort. These are still the Beatles. Fans still flock in droves, and teams still froth at taking down the Warriors with the national spotlight on them. Yet the light switch still feels stuck at tipoff.
The Hawks and Heat, two teams with losing records to start this ever-important road trip, combined to shoot 56.4 percent from the field (92 of 163) and 52.5 percent from three (32 of 61). Role players like Alec Burks (17 points) and Georges Niang (23 points) went off against the Warriors, especially from behind the 3-point line. Miami made 17 of its 25 3-point attempts for a 68-percent clip, the highest the Warriors have allowed in a game since 2018.
Those are numbers and performances Draymond Green takes personally.
“Get myself charged,” Green said in response to how the Warriors can be better defensively at the beginning of games. “Get myself charged, and lead by example as well. When I get myself charged up, everybody else will follow in line.”
The conclusion of the road trip takes the Warriors to Memphis to play the Grizzlies, and then they’re off to Los Angeles for their final regular-season matchup with the Lakers before having to play the Denver Nuggets back at home on the second night of a back-to-back. In between, the Warriors still have games against the Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs. The first four games on the road were supposed to be the ones to take advantage of.
They weren’t. A 4-2 road trip felt like a reasonable goal. Now 3-3 has to be a reasonable target that won’t be easy to reach. The easiest way to do so is by locking in defensively and not allowing the opposition to get comfortable from the jump.
With 10 regular-season games remaining, the Warriors now are 12-23 when trailing after the first quarter and 13-26 when facing a halftime deficit. They’re 27-4 when leading after the first quarter, as well as when they have a halftime lead.
Curry’s addition always collectively has the Warriors wearing Calvin Cambridge’s shoes. A wake-up call is in order either way, and the Warriors will have to prove what these two losses meant to them to get back on the right track with so much at stake.
“Come out and play well,” Green says. “Lost two in a row, you don’t want it to spiral. It’s the wrong time to really let something spiral. Come out, take care of this, get this road trip moving in the right direction. We’re 0-2 to start this trip. We need to make sure we right the ship.”