Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga were the Warriors’ bright sparks in a soul-crushing Game 3 102-97 loss, but Steve Kerr wants everyone else to step up for Game 4.
The pair combined for 63 points, with Butler scoring 33 while Kuminga had 30 points off the bench. Buddy Hield was the only other player on the team to manage double digits.
Kerr is hoping others will be able to contribute more positively in a crucial Game 4, after everyone else beside Jimmy and Kuminga scored only 34 points on 12-37 shooting from the field.
“My experience is that they probably won’t combine for 63 tomorrow,” coach Steve Kerr said Sunday. “But that other people will fill in some of those gaps.”
Butler was hyped on his combination with Kuminga and is expecting him to contribute in a big way next game.
“Like I tell everybody, me and him can thrive together,” Butler said. “I know how to space the floor. I can tell him, ‘Hey, when I have the ball, you go here, and you do this.’ We talk, we listen to one another, and then he has an incredible game like [Saturday].
“He did so many good things out there on the floor. I know that he’s going to be a huge part of us winning on Monday.”
Kerr said of Jimmy in Game 3:
“He was incredible. In hindsight, I would have loved to have gotten him a couple more minutes [rest] during the meat of the game. But it’s tricky. Without Steph, we’re walking a fine line. So, we’ve got to balance the risk of keeping him off the floor versus the gain of getting him a little more rest.”
Jimmy was clearly pretty gassed in the later stages of the game, after missing six of his seven shots, committing two fouls and one turnover in the fourth.
For the Warriors to have a chance to win in Game 4, others will certainly need to dig deeper.
“You just kind of move forward, and you look at where you can attack, what you can do better, and then different guys step up,” Kerr said. “I’m very confident that both JK and Jimmy will play well. But to expect 63 points combined, again, it’s probably unrealistic.”
