Why Butler vs. Johnson is matchup to watch in Warriors-Nets game originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors close their five-game road trip through the Eastern Conference on Thursday by confronting a reminder of past vulnerability.
Remember the Brooklyn Nets? The team that came into Chase Center on Nov. 25 and wiped out an 18-point deficit to slap with Warriors with a loss that sent them on a downward spiral?
Golden State (34-28) has a chance for retaliation when it meets Brooklyn (21-40) at Barclays Center. Coverage on NBC Sports Bay Area begins at 3:30 p.m. with Warriors Pregame Live, with tipoff scheduled for 4:30.
The Warriors, vastly improved since acquiring Jimmy Butler III four weeks ago, can prove they’ve reversed their tendency for gagging against inferior teams.
Butler projects to be primarily responsible for defending Brooklyn small forward Cameron Johnson, one of the NBA best 3-point shooters. He’s second on the Nets in scoring, averaging 18.8 points per game on 47.3-percent shooting from the field, including 39.8 from deep. He has scored at least 20 points in 17 of 46 games, with a season-high of 37.
Though dynamic guard Cam Thomas leads Brooklyn in scoring at 24.2 points per game, Johnson has been a more reliable barometer of team success; the Nets have won five of the last six games in which he topped the 20-point mark.
The Nets, plummeting toward the draft lottery, are 1-6 since the All-Star break and four of the losses were by double digits. They are no better than they were in November, when they administered a harsh lesson.
The Warriors were 12-4 and atop the Western Conference when Brooklyn (7-10, seventh in the East) came to Chase with four rotation players. They had blown a 17-point lead in the final 14 minutes of their previous game at San Antonio and were in position to recover.
Leading 86-68 with seven minutes left in the third quarter, the Warriors were outscored 60-34 over the final 19 minutes. Losing a big second-half lead for the second straight game was the genesis of a 15-game stretch during which they were 3-12 and settled into prolonged sub-mediocrity.
The Warriors have since revamped. The collective self-assurance is appreciably higher than it has been at any time this season. In the glow of their recent surge, they also know another loss to Brooklyn – being swept in the season series – would be disastrous.
Golden State remembers November, even if Butler was in Miami. The approach to this game will be indicate whether that lesson was fully absorbed.
