SAN FRANCISCO — Jimmy Butler has been a member of the Golden State Warriors for nearly three weeks. But early Sunday afternoon, he arrived.
Playing in front of a soldout Chase Center crowd for the first time, not long after Steve Kerr commended the way his calm can cut through their chaos, Butler showed just what his new coach was talking about. And an arena full of his newest fans recognized it, too.
Toward the end of the first quarter, Butler seized control of a loose ball, established himself in the lane and coaxed his defender into contact. He drained both free throws, extending a commanding lead to 33-16, and the Warriors (30-27) never looked back on their way to a 126-102 win.
Steph Curry finished with a game-best 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting, and it was such a rout that he called “Night, Night” midway through the third quarter.
The win improved the Warriors’ record in the Butler era to 5-1 and was perhaps their most impressive effort yet, even against a Mavericks (31-27) team that dealt away Luka Doncic and was missing the primary piece it received in return, Anthony Davis. It also gave them a three-game winning streak for the first time since their 12-3 start.
Butler finished with 18 points, five assists and three rebounds in his first home game with the Warriors and has seemingly changed their fortunes overnight.
“You can tell our fans see the difference,” Kerr said afterward. “They feel the momentum just like we do.”
As Butler stood at the free throw line with 50.2 seconds on the clock in the first quarter, a newly energized fan base erupted into a standing ovation. They chanted an elongated “Warrrrrrriors,” and Butler took a moment to compose himself before sinking the first of his eight foul shots.
In six games with Golden State, Butler is averaging 20.0 points per game and has already racked up 49 from the stripe. Since adding Butler, the Warriors have gone from attempting the fourth-fewest free throws in the NBA to leading the league — including 20-of-23 against the Mavericks.
Rolling with the same starting five as their past two wins, the Warriors started slow but used a 16-0 run — holding the Mavericks scoreless for 5:35 of the first quarter — to claim the lead for good. Their lead peaked at 29 points, after Butler found Brandin Podziemski for a corner 3 with 8:29 remaining.
Butler grabbed an offensive rebound early in the second quarter and found a cutting Quinten Post, who slammed the feed home to make it 41-20. Dallas called timeout and, again, the arena erupted, reaching decibel levels rarely heard in their five years in their palatial waterfront home.
Then again, rarely in that time has Curry ever had a running mate who does the things that Butler does. After draining his second 3-pointer in as many possessions to put Golden State up 93-69 with 2:48 left in the third quarter, Curry looked at P.J. Washington of the Mavericks and did his signature “Night, Night” celebration in his face. The Warriors had lost their past two meetings with Dallas, and Washington mocked the celebration after beating Golden State in December.
The Warriors hung Andre Iguodala’s No. 9 jersey in the rafters in a postgame ceremony. Before tipoff, Kerr compared the attributes that the three-time NBA champion and 2015 Finals MVP — known for his high IQ — shared with their newest acquisition.
“The fundamental base that Jimmy has reminds me so much of Andre,” Kerr said. “But when you put that fundamental base in a 6-8 athletic body, that’s a pretty powerful combination. And that’s what Jimmy has really added to our team – this sense of calm that, frankly, really complements the chaos of Steph and Dray.”
But when the Warriors acquired Butler from the Heat a day before the Feb. 6 trade deadline, they weren’t seeking a role player in the mold of Iguodala. They were in need of a true No. 2, the kind they haven’t had consistently since Klay Thompson crumpled into a heap on the floor in the 2019 Finals.
In Kerr’s words: “So far, so good.”
On the other side as a visitor for the third time, Thompson was held scoreless until the second half and finished with 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting. Frequently matched up on Butler, Thompson committed a foul on a drive to the bucket and had his pocket picked on the other end.
It was poor timing for the Mavericks’ top 3-point threat to go cold.
Golden State outscored Dallas in the paint, 60-46, including all but two of Butler’s points that didn’t come at the free-throw line.
“It was an important shift, the trade itself,” Kerr said. “We just needed it. We felt it. We were kind of treading water. Couldn’t get any traction in the season. Mike (Dunleavy, the general manager) sensed it and made the move. You can feel the shift. Sometimes you’ve got to shake things up, and we shook things up. It just so happened that one of the best players in the league was available. It was a move that made sense, and so far it’s showing why.”