SAN FRANCISCO — Jimmy Butler’s game makes so much more sense through the lens of dominoes. It’s a glimpse into how his mind works.
On a late March afternoon outside his Big Face Coffee store in the Art District of Miami, he played the style preferred by Caribbeans. No in-game scoring. A point is awarded to the first player to run out of dominoes. First to do so six times wins.
In games of two-on-two, Butler played with his lil bro Jordan Leslie and took on all comers. Butler keenly watched the board. Every play, you could almost see the calculations working in his brain. He could be talking, sipping the Corona on the ground next to him, or singing along to the music, as he did when the DJ started playing Sunshine Anderson’s “Heard It All Before.” But he didn’t take his eyes off the board.
“I’m looking at what everyone is playing,” the Golden State Warriors forward said, “but (my) focus is on my partner. I’m always trying to figure out what they have and don’t have.”
Butler can play the style of dominoes most prevalent in the Bay Area — where making a play that produces any derivative of five earns that number of points. It makes for a livelier game. Emphatic slams. Clever ways of announcing points. Trash talk when someone is forced to pass.
Typically, the first to 150 or 200 points wins. Points are also awarded at the end for those who run out of dominoes first. But that’s not the only way to win. Victory can also come from going on the offensive and scoring.
Butler played Cali-style on Saturday in Game 3 of the Warriors’ second-round series against Minnesota.
He wasn’t feeling out the game. Didn’t pass up shots. Didn’t worry much about getting his teammates going. Butler ate first.
He took 26 shots, doubling his attempts from Game 2, and most of them were attacking the heart of the Timberwolves’ defense. Butler finished with 33 points to go with seven rebounds and seven assists.
Butler’s aggression will be needed for the Warriors to avoid a 3-1 series hole. (Jesse Johnson / Imagn Images)
It wasn’t enough. Not to outduel Anthony Edwards, who scored 13 of his 36 points in the fourth. Not to get the Warriors the one win they need to increase the likelihood of Stephen Curry returning. But Butler’s approach in the 102-97 defeat at Chase Center provided the blueprint for Game 4. His aggression bothers Minnesota’s defense. His attacking mismatches are the best way to generate consistent open looks.
The only question is, can he dig deep like that again? Even deeper? He said he wants to play 48 minutes. Whatever it takes.
“It’s always, ‘Get a win,’” Butler said after Game 3. “If we don’t win, we don’t worry about getting Steph back this year. We have to put our big boy pants on and go out and compete at a high level and get this one on Monday. And we can worry about the next one after that. Get some rest. Recover. Dominoes. Coffee. Kids.”
Indeed, going down 3-1 in this series would create a tough task. It requires staying alive with a win in Minnesota, likely without Curry. That translates Monday into a theoretical must-win. They must get one at home to validate what they’re trying to accomplish — staying alive.
The strategy has been discovered. It’s Butler breaking down the defense, getting into the paint and wreaking havoc, forcing Minnesota to react, softening the pressure on his teammates.
He had a ready ally in Jonathan Kuminga, who set nearly every playoff career-high Saturday night: points (30), minutes (36), field goals (11), field goal attempts (18), 3-pointers made (three), assists (three) and blocks (two). It was consecutive standout performances from Kuminga, who’s gone from exiled against Houston to potential savior against Minnesota.
The Warriors still need one more, though, especially in the key moments. This game was there for the taking. But a cold spell in the fourth, as the Timberwolves turned up the pressure, was the Warriors’ doom. Golden State led by five with 8:16 remaining and proceeded to miss eight of its next nine shots with two turnovers. By the 2:05 mark, the Warriors were down 7.
Butler missed three shots in the paint during that stretch, but he still got where he wanted against the defense. He didn’t convert, didn’t get the benefit of the whistle. But he walked away from Game 3 emboldened.
“It’s an adjustment for him because he’s not, like, a volume scorer,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “Although he can do it, it’s not really how his mind works. But I think he’s made the adjustment now.
“I’m looking at what everyone is playing,” Butler says of his dominoes strategy, “but (my) focus is on my partner.” For this game, the partner was Draymond Green. (Marcus Thompson II / The Athletic)
Back in Miami, at the dominoes table, Butler had a clear chance to control the board. He had multiple threes in his hand with a couple in play. One move, and he tilts the game toward his threes. But he doesn’t make it. He cut off the three.
He’d already picked up that his teammate didn’t have any threes. So Butler angled to open up the board for his cohort. It wasn’t without risk, though. One domino out there could hurt him. About a one-in-15 chance not leaning into threes could backfire. But it was a greater chance his teammate would be harmed if he did.
Butler likes the odds. He calculates the variables and lives by them. He says it all the time in his interviews. Make the right play every time. Make the right play every time. For him, the seduction of control, the lure of shining, doesn’t sway his strategems.
He cut off his threes. And almost as punishment for being unselfish, the woman seated to his right had the one domino that could hurt him. Blanks were now covering the board. She didn’t know when she played it how she foiled his plan. Butler suddenly shot a look to the sky, a most incredulous “you’ve got to be kidding me” glare. He lost that hand.
He didn’t make that mistake on the next one. Halfway through the next hand, Butler found his advantage with sixes. With a crowd standing around the table, Butler went on the attack, pushing his agenda with sixes. He started calling out the options of his opponents.
“You can’t play,” he said to his opponent to the right.
While his partner was choosing an option, Butler did the ultimate flex. He showed the opponent to the left his dominoes. He lowered his left hand just beneath the table and twisted his wrist enough to reveal his bones.
“This is the end of you,” Butler said. “Nothing you can do.”
That’s the spirit Butler played with in Game 3.
He posted Donte DiVincenzo with force in the first quarter, prompting Minnesota to switch the matchup. He came off screens downhill and went straight for Rudy Gobert. His driving three-point play over Gobert punctuated a surge that turned a 10-point deficit into a 42-40 halftime lead.
With just inside of eight minutes remaining in the third quarter, he faced up Edwards on the right block in front of the Warriors’ bench. After a pregnant pause in triple-threat position, Butler took a hard dribble left and quickly spun back right. Edwards was gone, just a wide-open rim for a layup.
With just over two minutes left, Butler pushed it up court in transition. With only Nickeil Alexander-Walker in his way, and with Gobert trailing, Butler charged towards the rim. But instead of laying it up, he turned in the air and passed it back out to Buddy Hield. It looked like the Butler of Game 2.
But after the kick out, he ran to the left corner. Hield made the extra pass to Butler, who drilled the wide-open 3. The Warriors led 67-62 late in the third after his Steph Curry-esque relocation 3.
“I thought about him after that,” Butler said with a smile.
After about an hour — as the Miami sun, free Bacardi and NBA star power kept drawing a crowd — Butler was still playing. Only losers have to get up. But his lil bro was done and needed a sub. Green sat down across from Butler.
In the first game, Green made a mistake. He was, instinctively, playing California-style dominoes and focused on scoring. But he cut off Butler’s strategy in the process and they lost the hand. He realized what he did as Butler explained it.
“I got it now,” Green declared. “That’s the last time I cost us.”
Green locked in. It didn’t take long for them to develop a rhythm, a chemistry that proved unbeatable. Eventually, Green could be heard laughing loudly, taunting his opponents. Butler called his plays in advance and flexed his brain by predicting the plays of others.
On one choreographed run, Green noticed Butler had fives going and made the one play Butler needed. Once he saw it, Butler turned up. He made two consecutive plays, intentionally riling up his opponents, who didn’t realize yet they couldn’t play.
“Go ahead,” Butler said, “I wait for y’all to figure it out.”
He then set his remaining domino on the table. Face up. It was over. The opponents got up. One wanted a picture with Butler, but he wasn’t taking photos. This was dominoes. It’s sacred to him.
Butler and Green went about two hours playing together. Every pair who sat down left with a story to tell about how they lost to Butler and Green. Because they didn’t lose on this day of dominoes.
Now, Butler could sure use Green in these playoffs.
“I’ve got to be better for him,” said Green, who fouled out with just under five minutes remaining after managing just two points and four assists with five turnovers.
“I’ve just got to play better. … Whatever that means. In spite of whoever else that’s involved that influences it, I have to be better. I let him down today. He did what he needed to do. Again, no matter who else is involved that is influencing how I have an impact on the game, I have to be better.”
(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
