Despite loss, Warriors finish road trip on high note with team’s renewed camaraderie – The Athletic
MIAMI — Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler spent the two minutes or so between the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s 110-96 loss to the Miami Heat coaching. Butler, who, like many of the Warriors’ veterans, sat out the game, could have sat in the locker room or at the end of the bench disengaged from the Warriors in his return to Miami.
Instead, the 36-year-old offered words of wisdom to reserve guard Pat Spencer at the start of the break and closed it by giving pointers to young big man Trayce Jackson-Davis before he went back on the floor. The help wasn’t lost on the young players as the undermanned group played tough all night, but they couldn’t close down the stretch against Bam Adebayo and the Heat.
“At the end of the day, Jimmy’s a great teammate,” Jackson-Davis said. “The way that he was telling me certain things, to do certain things, that he sees on the floor. When a guy’s done it as long as he has, just be a sponge.”
The fact that Butler and fellow star guard Stephen Curry spent much of their night on the bench cheering on teammates and offering advice is something that older veterans regularly do across the league. But the interactions on this night, at the end of a long six-game, 10-day road trip, were telling, given the rocky way the Warriors started this stretch in Oklahoma City. Just over a week ago, they lost to the defending NBA champions by 24 points in a game that wasn’t even that close.
After that game, veteran Draymond Green and, to a lesser extent, Butler, called out the group, with Green going as far as to note the difference between how the Warriors played last season after acquiring Butler, compared to where the team is now.
“I think everybody was committed to winning and doing that any way possible,” Green said of last season. “And right now, it doesn’t feel that way.”
The Warriors appeared on the verge of a breaking point early this season, with tension rising after losing five of their last seven games. Then Curry put on his Superman cape and scored 95 points combined during two wins in San Antonio over Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, and the season was righted quickly. Wednesday’s display of camaraderie from veterans, which included Green, who wasn’t feeling well, but made his way out to the bench during the fourth quarter against the Heat to offer his support, is another reminder of how far the Warriors came on this road trip even though they head back to San Francisco with a 3-3 record over the last stretch.
Golden State lost the trip’s last two games during the Florida swing, but coach Steve Kerr and his group feel good about the resiliency shown by the way the Warriors started and finished.
“I was just most pleased after that OKC game, it just felt like our level of fight and competition was where it needed to be,” Kerr said. “And so we were able to obviously split the six games on the trip coming off that beatdown in OKC. So I like where we are now better as a team, but we have a lot of work to do.”
What Kerr continued to harp on over the last two nights was that his team needed to take better care of the ball. As he pointed out Wednesday night, the Warriors, who turned the ball over 21 times to the Heat’s 10, are 1-8 when they lose the turnover battle and 8-0 when they win it. He believes they will fix the issue by heading home for a couple of weeks and getting a few practice days under their belt.
But the takeaway Wednesday, and on this trip, was how the group came together emotionally after a rocky beginning. Butler did what he could to help from the bench, while Curry sat at a locker stall after the game, offering advice to young guard Brandin Podziemski.
“Those guys are Hall of Famers,” Spencer said. “And (we) value their opinion and feedback. Grateful that they’re locked into the game. They could be chillin’ in the locker room, grabbing a bite to eat as some guys do. So thankful for those relationships and ultimately try to return the favor when I’m out of the lineup.”
The good feelings that ended this trip, even with two straight losses, will only hold as long as the Warriors can rack up some wins as their schedule softens. Kerr knows they have problems to fix, and it is incumbent on the veteran core of Curry, Butler and Green to instill confidence in a younger group of players needed to take a collective step this season.
Given where the trip started, the Warriors walked out of Kaseya Center with their heads held high. They know the trip could have been a lot worse, and Kerr sees that the older guys taking an interest in the younger players, especially on a night when they didn’t have to, is a sign of good things to come.
“I can feel Steph and Jimmy on the sidelines,” Kerr said. “I felt their presence at the meeting today. Those two guys were giving advice. That’s really important for our guys to feel the support of their vets on a night like tonight, when those guys are out and the young guys are the ones out on the floor fighting.
“We’re a connected team, we’ve got a good vibe, a good group. We’ve got some improvement to make on the floor, and that’s the main thing.”
