Bulls Feel Sting of New-Look Warriors and Steph-Butler One-Two Punch
A Dominant Third Quarter from Curry
It was Jimmy Butler Night at the United Center on Saturday, but leave it to arguably the greatest shooter in NBA history to steal the show – and the Bulls’ fight, their hearts, their souls. Stephen Curry shooting clinics are nothing new in the Association, but his third quarter against the Bulls was just a reminder of how lethal the baby-faced assassin still is at age 36, as he scored 24 of his team’s 42 points in that stanza.
And it wasn’t just his ridiculous 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the three-point line that had even Bulls fans on their feet, but the distance and level of difficulty in which they came. In the end, Curry finished with 34 points on the night, helping the Warriors come back from a 24-point second-half deficit to win going away 132-111.
Butler’s Debut with the Warriors
Welcome to the new team, Jimmy. After all, the buzz around the new-look Warriors was the addition they made Wednesday night, shocking the rest of the league when they swooped in and acquired Butler – a one-time standout for the Bulls – from Miami, and quickly extending him to a two-year contract.
Without a single practice under his belt and not even playing in an NBA game for two weeks because of the Heat playing the suspension game with him, Butler was instant impact, scoring 25 points in his debut. Not bad for a guy that knew he was going to be traded in his bad break-up with the Heat but had no idea where.
Growing Pains for the Warriors
Butler got the starting nod and quickly reminded Bulls fans of the game he used to display for them, handing out an assist, scoring on an alleyoop, and then getting to the free throw line for two easy ones, and doing that all in just over a minute of the game. Growing pains were expected with the new-look Warriors, and growing pains came.
As good as the road team looked early on was as bad as they looked in the second, and the Bulls made them pay for each mistake. Not only did the Bulls hit 6-of-8 from three in the quarter, but held the Warriors to 30% from the field, outscoring them 38-21. The lead got up to 24 in the third, and then Steph happened.
A One-Two Punch
The Bulls went up 24 when Josh Giddey hit a three at the 8:30 mark of that stanza, and after two Butler free throws, Curry made three straight three-pointers, including a four-point play to cut the lead to 15 in a minute. Buddy Hield hit a three to cut it to 12, and by the time Curry hit another three with 3:13 left the lead was down to just six.
“He does do that,” Donovan said of what Curry did. “We tried to blitz him. Once we trapped him, he still got it back. This is what they’ve done, they’re always a great third-quarter team and we talked about that. You’ve got to keep playing because they’re not stopping. They just turned it up and we’ve got to be able to sustain it. It was an avalanche of everything.
“You’ve got to be able to emotionally overcome that.”
Conclusion
The Bulls couldn’t overcome the one-two punch of Curry and Butler, and it was a knockout. The Warriors’ new-look team, led by their dynamic duo, proved to be too much for the Bulls to handle.
FAQs
Q: How many points did Curry score in the third quarter?
A: Curry scored 24 points in the third quarter.
Q: How many three-pointers did Curry make in the game?
A: Curry made 5-of-8 three-pointers in the game.
Q: How many points did Butler score in his debut with the Warriors?
A: Butler scored 25 points in his debut with the Warriors.
Q: What was the final score of the game?
A: The Warriors won 132-111.
