San Francisco – Warriors striker Jimmy Butler III is listed as questionable for match 3 of the first round eliminatory series of Golden State against the Houston Rockets after having undergone a pelvic bruise during a hard fall in match 2.
Butler returned home from Houston and underwent an MRI exam Thursday in the bay region which revealed that he had injured his basin and has a deep spanking muscle contusion. The team announced the update on Friday, with the series of seven best tied to a match each while it spends in Chase Center in San Francisco for match 3 on Saturday evening. Match 4 is Monday.
“If Jimmy is out, we have to rethink everything,” said coach Steve Kerr, “as rotations, who begins and the best combinations and all that.”
Butler, who deleted the pressure from Stephen Curry by contributing to both ends since he was acquired from Miami on the deadline for trade, was hard during a fault on Amen Thompson at the end of the first quarter and then missed the rest of the Warriors 109-94 of match 2 Wednesday evening.
Butler tried to get a rebound when Thompson put him back and sent the feet of the Warriors star in the air, so he went down directly to his lumber. The two players struck on the ground with the collision, and Butler grimacted with striking pain on his back. He remained briefly to shoot two free throws before going to the locker room.
“Obviously, he does a large part of what they are doing,” said Rockets coach Ime Udoka. “The isolation marker, the cross matches, he likes to hunt them, so that you can fear you a little more obviously with him and not on the field. And I think we did for the most part.”
In the victory of the match 1 of Golden State, Butler collected 25 points on a shot of 10 for 19, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 interceptions in 42 minutes of action. The Warriors have a 25-9 sheet since Butler made his debut in Chicago on February 8, including 23-8 in the regular season, a victory for the tournament on Memphis and the two games faced Houston.
Now, if necessary, Kerr will do his best to capitalize on the depth which has been such an asset all season.
Jonathan Kuminga had not been on the field at all three previous games, but was called in the rotation with Butler Hurt, and Brandin Podziemski played a disease with his team in digital disadvantage – even receiving intravenous liquids at half -time.
“I had this a few times and you know exactly what it is. It is to see how bad it was and I don’t know,” said Curry after the match. “But that has definitely changed the dynamics of our attack. He and BP played 21 minutes combined, so that mixed all the rotations a bit.”
