For Jimmy Butler of the Warriors, the weight of history is pretty heavy. For five years with the Miami Heat, he honed a reptuation as a player who could lift his game, and that of his teammates, in the playoffs, could get his team to do what seemed impossible. 

He led the Heat to the NBA Finals, after all, as a No. 8 seed back in 2023, the second time he carried Miami to the championship round. He averaged 24.7 points per game in his postseason career with the Heat, up from 21.0 in the regular season with the team. 

With the Warriors, though, there has not been the same magic. Butler has averaged 20.0 points in the Warriors’ postseason games, and he led them with 33 points on Saturday against the Timberwolves, but he petered out down the stretch of that game (1-for-7 shooting in the fourth quarter) and has been unable to conjure up a win in the two games star guard Stephen Curry has missed with hamstring issue.

The Dubs lost Game 3, 102-97, and are looking at a dire situation with Curry still out. Butler defended his reputation, forged with the Heat, for postseason heroics, even as they have yet to materialize for the Warriors. 

“It hasn’t changed,” Butler said. “I know who I am as a player. I know what’s needed of me on any given night so to speak and it can change depending on who is in and out of the lineup.

“But it doesn’t matter what part of my career I was in. If it doesn’t go towards winning, then it’s all a waste. So whether I’m the player now or who I was X amount of years ago, we didn’t win tonight, so none of that even matters.”

If Butler does have enough individual brilliance to will this team to a win, they’d better get a taste of it on Monday in Game 4. With the Wolves leading the series, 2-1, that’s a de facto must-win game for Golden State. 

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