The Warriors defeated the Mavericks tonight, 126-116, without a single player scoring above 25 points for them. Stephen Curry led all scorers for the Golden State with 23 points, three rebounds, and four assists while shooting 6-of-18 from the field (33.3%) and 2-of-10 from the three-point line (20.0%).
Yet the media was still focused on the aftermath of the viral altercation between Draymond Green and Steve Kerr. Following the victory in the aftermath of the fight, a reporter from the Warriors media asked Jimmy Butler, the veteran forward, about his opinions on the altercation.
While most players remained neutral and diplomatic, Butler gave the most expectedly eccentric response and, in a way, encouraged more such outbursts of frustration from the team.
“That’s just a part of the game. When you’ve been together for so long, y’all are going to have arguments. It ain’t going to be quiet all the time. Like, it’s okay, you got two fierce competitors that have won it together, and that want to continually win,” said Butler initially on Green’s relationship with Kerr.
“We know what it is, and you know if you’re looking at me, I’m just looking up like, alright, like I expect that to happen. That’s okay. We move on from it,” said Butler on his first impressions of the last few days for the Warriors since the fight first went viral.
“I like that y’all yell at each other. Turned me on a little bit. I’m not going to even lie. I like that. I like the confrontation. It’s good for us,” said Butler on his takeaways from the incident as the media scrum erupted in laughter.
Steve Kerr has already revealed that he and Draymond Green have apologized to one another and the rest of the team for their unbecoming behavior.
Subsequently, Green played 28 minutes tonight and ended up with seven points, five rebounds, and three assists while shooting 2-of-7 (28.6%) from the field.
Butler finished tonight’s game with a near triple-double. He had 14 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists while shooting 5-of-10 from the field (50.0%) and 1-of-3 from the three-point line.
Coming off what seemed like a tense situation in the locker room, the Warriors have actually become better as a result. They defeated the Magic in the game where the original incident occurred, they beat the Mavericks tonight, and are currently on a three-game win streak.
So if anything, the fight seems to have fired up not just Butler but the rest of the team as well. Following this Christmas Day victory, the Warriors have improved their season record to 16-15 and will now face the Raptors on Sunday.
