Loss to 76ers provides graphic proof why Warriors paid Butler

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Loss to 76ers provides graphic proof why Warriors paid Butler originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

All it took was seven barren minutes Saturday night to understand why the Warriors pursued, acquired and made an expensive two-year commitment to 35-year-old Jimmy Butler III.

They did it to bring clarity to a team whose offense went nearly three months without the slightest sign of breaking its habit of spending 12-14 minutes each game wandering through the mental fog that materializes every time Stephen Curry leaves the floor.

When Curry left the floor with 2:07 remaining in the first quarter, he joined a sidelined Butler on the bench hoping his teammates could maintain, or perhaps expand, a six-point (30-24) lead against a wounded 76ers team that had lost nine consecutive games.

The fog, absent in Butler’s eight games, immediately came rolling in, leaving the Warriors disoriented enough to lose the lead and trudge out of Wells Fargo Arena with a 125-119 loss that halts their momentum and cuts deeply into the mojo generated by the post-Butler bump.

The Warriors were plus-12 in the 36 minutes Curry was on the floor – and minus-19 in the 12 minutes he rested.

“I can’t play 48, obviously,” Curry told reporters in Philadelphia. “And we should have the ability to play with confidence and put together a decent stretch. That doesn’t mean you’re going to win those minutes. It just means you’re going to buy some time and give us an opportunity to – especially on the road – give us a chance to finish the half strong.

“It was tough to score. We had some turnovers. We did correct a little bit of that in the second half, but if you mess around with a team that’s desperate like that and you give them a 16-point cushion, or whatever it was, it’s hit or miss whether you can get back in the game and actually win it.”

Curry had 12 points in the first 10 minutes, and the Warriors had a six-point advantage (30-24) when he went out with 2:07 left in the first quarter. By the time Curry returned with 6:46 left in the second quarter, that lead had been converted to a five-point deficit (42-37). Outscored…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/loss-76ers-provides-graphic-proof-230448799.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2025-03-01 23:04:00

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