Jimmy Butler was hoping for a trade the last time he was on a team scheduled to visit the Brooklyn Nets.
Now, Butler is on a new team and fitting in well, as the Golden State Warriors make their annual visit to the Nets on Thursday night on the one-month anniversary of his acquisition from the Miami Heat.
Before joining Golden State, Butler was away from the Heat when they visited Brooklyn on Jan. 25. His trade request saga finally ended at the trade deadline when the Warriors acquired him for a package led by Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Anderson as part of a five-team trade.
Since being paired with Stephen Curry, Butler is averaging 16.3 points on 44 percent shooting in 10 games. Butler has scored in double digits in eight games and at least 20 points three times.
The Warriors are 9-1 with Butler in the lineup and seven of those wins are by double digits. The latest was Tuesday’s 114-102 win over the New York Knicks. Butler scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half when the Warriors shot 60 percent and outscored New York 67-47.
The Warriors held an opponent under 110 points for the sixth time since the trade and also improved to 13-6 since falling one game under .500 following a six-point loss to the Sacramento Kings on Jan. 22.
Curry scored 20 of his 28 points in the second half, including 14 in the third quarter when the Warriors erased an eight-point halftime deficit. Curry was dealing with a sore right ankle and scored at least 20 for the ninth time in 10 games he has played with Butler, including a 56-point game a week ago in Orlando.
“That’s what it looks like,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Jimmy getting downhill. Guys knocking down 3s. Getting out in transition and getting points off our defense. That second half was a good example of what it can look like.”
The Nets earned a 128-121 win in San Francisco on Nov. 25 when they won three straight. After that streak, Brooklyn lost 23 of 28 and followed that skid up with seven wins in nine games when it allowed 110 points or fewer eight times.
The Nets are returning home on a five-game losing streak and experiencing some slippage in their defense. Brooklyn is allowing 119.8 points during its skid and opponents are 54.1 percent shooting.
The Nets allowed at least 50 percent shooting for the fifth straight time Tuesday night in a 127-113 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, who shot 54.7 percent and hit 18 3s. Brooklyn dropped to 1-24 when allowing at least 50 percent shooting and struggled to defend inside by conceding 62 points in the paint.
“I think our defense was not good enough, and that’s what we have to embrace right now,” Brooklyn coach Jordi Fernandez said. “Obviously, our team has been changing the roster, (but) this was one of our worst performances.”
The Nets took the loss in only the second game that D’Angelo Russell and Cam Thomas appeared together. Unlike the first game on Jan. 2 in Milwaukee when Russell started and Thomas came off the bench in his return from the first hamstring injury, both players started on Tuesday.
Thomas scored 24 points in his second game since returning from the second hamstring injury on Friday. Russell was held to 12 after missing the previous five games with a sprained right ankle.
–Field Level Media
