Jimmy Butler will need to be more Superman than Batman in Steph Curry's absence
Jimmy Butler will need to be more Superman than Batman in Steph Curry's absence
Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Prince J. Grimes.
Buddy Hield didn't want to claim Robin.
After the Golden State Warriors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday, even after Stephen Curry left the game early with a hamstring injury, Hield and Jimmy Butler took the postgame podium to answer questions about how they were able to win Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. And Hield didn't want to own the title of Robin to Butler's Batman.
"I'm Batman today," Hield joked. "I saved the day. He's still Robin."
It was funny. The kind of moment that shows why Butler and Hield have the best comedic chemistry of any teammates in the NBA. But like any good joke, it had a lot of truth in it. Because Hield was right. He isn't a Robin. Without Curry, the Warriors don't have one.
One of the best No. 1 options in league history, Curry hurt his hamstring in the second quarter and missed the rest of the game. On Wednesday, the Warriors announced the injury as a Grade 1 strain that will sideline him for at least a week, which means he'll miss games two through four of the series, at minimum, and potentially return for Game 5 next Wednesday.
Though obviously a bummer, it's the best possible news they could've hoped for. They gave themselves cushion by stealing Game 1 on the road behind 24 points from Hield and 20 from Butler.
But what Hield gave them isn't sustainable. He's a career 15-point scorer who averaged 11.1 points this season, which ranked fifth on the team behind Curry, Butler, Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski. He's not a Robin, he's just a really good role player.
That's why it won't be enough for Butler to simply fill the shoes of Golden State's injured Batman - because he won't have a consistently reliable No. 2 option like Curry did with himself. Butler will have to be Superman. He'll have to do a lot of the heavy lifting on his own. Luckily for the Warriors, it's a role he's very familiar with.
PHONE BOOTH MALFUNCTION: Hield accidentally wore the wrong game shorts
Butler is only two years removed from carrying an arguably less-talented Miami Heat roster to the NBA Finals -- and he did it twice in four years. The Warriors are only asking him to do it for a series -- albeit a difficult one against another Superman-like player, Anthony Edwards. And Butler will still have a solid cast of role players to help, including Draymond Green, Podziemski and yes, Hield.
If Butler can rise to the occasion like he has so many times in the past, the Warriors have a chance to pull off an incredible upset as +165 underdogs at BetMGM. If not, they don't stand a chance at winning a series they were never expected to win to begin with.
Road teams are dominating the 2nd round
Golden State wasn't the only team to pull off an upset in their second-round opener. Rather, they continued a trend of dominance for the road teams, which are now 5-0 this round.
That undefeated record includes the Indiana Pacers taking each of their first two games against the Cleveland Cavaliers to flip the series odds completely in their favor.
UNDERRATED: Tyrese Haliburton is devastatingly slept on
It's the first time in NBA history all four road teams won the first game of the conference semifinals, but as my buddy Bryan Kalbrosky wrote, we shouldn't expect this underdog streak to continue much longer...
"While the road teams are actually 6-0 since Sunday (when the Warriors defeated the Rockets and the Pacers defeated the Cavaliers) in another historic oddity, this is not expected to continue for the underdogs."
...because the Celtics, Thunder and Timberwolves are all still favored to prevail in their series. Read more from Bryan about what we've seen so far and what we can expect next.
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