Man, that was a three-month rush, that whole Jimmy Butler-to-the-Warriors adrenaline shot the Bay Area got. It’s over now.
For the time being.
It did not end in an NBA title, or even an NBA Finals appearance, much less a Western Conference finals berth. It ended with Steph Curry in various forms of street clothes for the last four games of the season, and with Jimmy Butler — so often the recipient of a gushing Jock Blog in this past stretch — petering out with tepid play in the last two games. Whether it was because of the nagging posterior injury, or an ill-timed flu or the ongoing frustration of missing his ‘Batman’, or all of the above — “Playoff Jimmy” was “Way Off Jimmy”, as a clever tester noted of his Games 4 and 5 in the losses to Minnesota.
Spit happens, as I was just saying to the Jock Blog censor who wants to keep this G-rated.
Does this mean the Playoff Jimmy Experiment, as trademarked by Mike (The Angular Gangster) Dunleavy, was a failure?
In some ways, the harshest of ways — yes, it was a failure. Joe Lacob lives for championships, Steph Curry is a year older, and tomorrow is promised to no one. Sorry to get to fatalistic, but it’s the agony of defeat, sports fans.
Pat Riley famously said “there is winning, and there is misery”, and if that holds true, these last few days have been an express ticket on the Misery Train.
In other ways, the more realistic of ways — no, it was not a failure. Joe Lacob still lives for championships, Steph Curry may be in the best shape of his life, and after all, tomorrow is another day — as noted Warriors fan Scarlett O’Hara has been saying since the “We Believe” era.
And Pat Riley’s Miami Heat got swept in the first round, so nyah nyah.
The Jock Blog sides on the argument that the Butler trade was not a failure. Then again, the Jock Blog is notoriously soft.
Look at the facts of the case: Prior the arrival of the man who preaches “dominoes, coffee, kids” as the three pillars of life, the Warriors three pillars of life were “play-in bracket, maybe not the play-in bracket, and oh sh*t.” Butler’s arrival changed all that, and the 23-8 record showed as much. So did the ball movement, liberation of Steph Curry and the rediscovery of the free throw line.
Now, what Butler’s arrival did to the curious case of Jonathan Kuminga? That’s another Jock Blog, to be determined this summer.
The biggest storyline is that the Warriors now have a plan. We can argue in future months and years whether attacking an NBA Championship with three guys north of 35 is a smart plan, and we will. But they have a plan, and will look to augment that plan either with Kuminga, or with something in return for Kuminga.
The exit interviews sounded like a bunch of happy dudes ready for 2026 already. Butler even wants to go on vacation with the crew. Somebody call Adam Sandler and Kevin James for “Grown Ups 3”, the one where Jimmy, Steph and Draymond rent the cabin by the lake and go water skiiing.
Jimmy will bring the coffee and the dominoes.