Less than a year ago, Warriors star Jimmy Butler was talking about how he got his "joy" back following his drama-filled exit from the Heat after a trade to Golden State. This November, the grizzled veteran may be looking again for the same thing following a disappointing start to Golden State's season.
The Warriors fell to .500 after Wednesday's brutal loss to the Rockets, marking Golden State's fourth loss in five games. They were dealt the latest blow to the team's lofty championship hopes. As the game was coming down to the wire, Warriors star Steph Curry suffered a quad contusion after a collision and was in visible pain as he limped to the locker room. Curry is set to receive an MRI on the injury.
Despite a strong start to the game, Golden State couldn't finish the job behind Butler's team-high 21 points and picked up another deflating defeat on their homestand, one that Butler didn't mince words about after the loss.
Butler spoke about the Warriors' general woes and seemed to criticize his teammates for their lack of effort. He noted that Curry shouldn't have to be "Batman" every single game and wanted to see more fight from the team across the board:
"We don’t box out. We don’t go with the scouting report. We let anybody do whatever they want. Open shots, get into the paint, free throws. It’s just sad," Butler said.
Jimmy Butler on the 10-10 Warriors: “We don’t box out. We don’t go with the scouting report. We let anybody do whatever they want - open shots, get into the paint, free throws. It’s just sad.” pic.twitter.com/ZisXNbRBa1
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 27, 2025
"I don’t care what Steve [Kerr] says. It’s not on him, and it’s not on the coaches," continued Butler. "They write everything up there for us to do, and they put us in the position to be successful. We go over the day before and the day of, we've got to go out there and execute, man. Don’t listen to Steve when he says, ‘This is on me, and I got to be better.’ Nah, it’s on the guys around this locker room."
Draymond Green had a slightly more heated take on the Warriors' latest loss and gave a brutally honest assessment of his team's performance:
"Our defense is s---. ... We are individually—I know everyone likes to twist words—I said WE are individually f---ing awful," Green said.
Once considered one of the best third-quarter teams in the league, the Warriors flailed against Houston and saw their double-digit halftime lead gradually get whittled down by a gritty Rockets side. Golden State went 0-for-8 from beyond the arc that quarter and lost all of their early momentum, and in the end they couldn't make their shots fall when they needed to the most.
The Warriors (10-10) will look to bounce back against the Pelicans on Saturday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jimmy Butler Had Really Sad Line About Warriors’ Struggles After Loss to Rockets.
