SAN FRANCISCO — Asked about the Warriors’ outlook entering the final stretch of the regular season, Stephen Curry smirked like a man responsible for cashing a check he hadn’t written.
“I’m excited,” he said Sunday night after earning All-Star Game MVP honors, letting out a laugh. “I’ve got Draymond (Green) on the telecast guaranteeing we’re winning a championship.”
The Warriors’ outspoken point forward made headlines on a couple of occasions over All-Star weekend, despite not playing in the game. While he participated in the skills challenge, Green let his true talent shine on the Turner Sports set outside the arena. He ripped into the refereeing, called the league boring and criticized the new All-Star format. But he raised the most eyebrows when he made a bold proclamation about his own team’s aspirations.
“I think we’re gonna win the championship,” Green said, before doubling down in front of his cohosts’ aghast reactions. “I’m sorry. I said ‘I think’ we’re going to win the championship. What I mean to say is that we are going to win the championship.”
Even for Green, it seemed to be an out-of-pocket moment on national television. But it’s worth examining his comments in the context in which he made them. Green wasn’t talking about the Warriors team that started the season 12-3, nor the one that went 3-12 over its next 15 games and flirted with .500 ever since.
Four games with Jimmy Butler has made Green believe it’s possible to add a fifth ring to this dynasty.
“Since he’s been here, we’ve walked into every game thinking and believing we were going to win that game,” Green said. “That goes a long way in this league. … He’s brought back that belief.”
Since acquiring Butler from Miami the day before the trade deadline, the Warriors are 3-1 and realistically could have won all four games. But it will take more than bravado for Butler to make the kind of impact Green is promising. At 28-27, tied for ninth place in the Western Conference, something will have to change or else the Warriors will enter the postseason in a position that has never produced a champion.
Of the 47 teams to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy since the NBA/ABA merger, none has ever started lower than the sixth seed in its conference. All but one — the 1994-95 Houston Rockets (No. 6) — have been seeded third or higher.
The No. 6 seed comes with the added benefit of avoiding the play-in tournament, as well as first-round matchups against the conference’s top two teams, shaping up to be the Oklahoma City Thunder (44-10) and one of the Memphis Grizzlies (36-18) or Denver Nuggets (36-19).
The facts beg two questions:
1) How attainable is the No. 6 seed?
2) Does Butler give the Warriors enough juice to get there?
At the moment, the Los Angeles Clippers occupy the sixth spot in the Western Conference standings, with a record of 31-23 — only 3½ games ahead of the Warriors with 27 games remaining. But Golden State is at the back of a pack of five teams vying for the same slot.
One factor potentially working in the Warriors’ favor: Of the Clippers, Timberwolves (31-25), Mavericks (30-26) and Kings (28-27), Golden State possesses the second-easiest remaining schedule, with an opponents’ winning percentage of .488, according to the website Tankathon. While you should never count out Kevin Durant, his Suns (26-28) are a game and half behind the Warriors and face the most difficult slate left of all 30 teams.
And then there’s Jimmy.
It’s a small sample, but the Warriors are clearly a better team than they were before the trade. They are scoring more points — 117.3 per game (15th in the NBA), up from 111.9 (18th) — and allowing fewer, 107.8 per game (10th) vs. 111.9 (also 10th).
Butler hadn’t played a game in three weeks when he debuted Feb. 8 but has still managed to make an impact while learning a new system, averaging 21.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists in a team-high 32.5 minutes per game. Not only are the non-Steph minutes accounted for, Butler has added an entirely new layer to the Warriors’ offense with his midrange game and ability to draw whistles — 34 points from the stripe in just his first four games.
It remains to be seen how Butler blends with Jonathan Kuminga, another slashing wing due back from an ankle injury shortly after the All-Star break. But the two players have already spoken highly of each other, and Butler has seemed to fit in seamlessly so far.
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The stats only back up the eye test, which was apparent from the moment the team began its comeback in Chicago during Butler’s debut.
The smile on Curry’s face and the sparkle in his eye that had been absent throughout much of the season, it was back.
Butler may have made it possible. Green may have spoken it into existence.
But whether they see it through will come down to Curry. It always does.
“I love expectations and having something to play for,” Curry said of Green’s comments. “So he’s lighting a fire, for sure.”
