NBA fans can’t get enough of the new-look Warriors these days, and thank goodness for that.
Because every Warriors game features three things seriously wrong with today’s NBA, and I’m here to suggest some easy fixes.
The addition of Jimmy Butler III has done more than just rocket Golden State up the standings. It has introduced highway robbery to guys who previously didn’t even know how to load a squirt gun.
Butler is great at drawing fouls. In his 16 games since joining the Warriors, he’s gotten to the free-throw line a whopping 116 times.
Since the Feb. 6 trade, the Warriors have averaged 24.8 foul shots per game. That’s fourth-most in the NBA.
Before the deal, they got to the line an average of 20.4 times. That was third-fewest in the league.
Credit Butler. He’s been a leader by example, and several Warriors have become real good students.
Unfortunately, they’re learning how to cheat, and that’s bad for the game.
For years, Warriors broadcasters and fans have bemoaned the rough treatment their Pillsbury Dough Boys have gotten from opponents. LeBron James was the poster boy for crashing into a Golden State defender, drawing a whistle and getting sent to the line, drawing boos from the home crowd and referee criticism from the voices of the team.
We were often reminded: When Amtrak and Caltrain are churning down parallel paths, and Amtrak jumps its track and crashes into Caltrain, you can’t sue Caltrain.
But the NBA is putting Caltrain out of business, and Butler is at fault as much as anyone. Even LeBron.
More times than not, Butler has no intention of getting to the hoop unscathed on his drives through the paint. He seeks contact first, oftentimes veering out of his way to create it, before then throwing the ball in the vicinity of the backboard in order to assure two foul shots.
It’s a ploy that cannot be tolerated, let alone popularized.
Forget this nonsense of legal defensive position. Who caused the contact? That’s who deserves the foul.
Call it properly and real basketball will result.
If Butler is the Warriors’ version of Earl Campbell, then Stephen Curry is Deion Sanders.
Deion never made a tackle in his life. If an offensive lineman blew on him, he tumbled into the safety of the bench.
For all his greatness, Curry has some Prime Time in his prime time. Nobody falls more in an NBA game.
Want to have some fun next time you watch a Warriors game?
First, predict how many times Curry will fall that night.
Then, count Curry’s up-close-and-personals with the wood.
And lastly, admit you really don’t know much about NBA 2025 when you realize 11 was way too small a number to guess.
For crying out loud, he falls six times a game on drives to the hoop and five after 3-point attempts alone. None of which, by the way, draw a foul call.
Then there’s the wrestling while trying to get open, the screening both on offense and defense, and … he even goes to the floor twice a night hustling after a loose ball. Imagine that.
He’s Frisco Flop, even after he gets up smiling half the time.
It’s gotta stop. You fall on a drive to the hoop when nobody touches you, or while trying to bait an official into believing you were touched on a 3-point attempt, you get a technical foul.
It’ll stop the flopping, and also help put Swiffer out of business.
That’s not to say Curry doesn’t get hacked a lot. Oh, he does. In fact, he might lead the league in fouls absorbed without getting to the line.
I take that back. Low-post centers get fouled on basically every possession. But don’t get me started on that one.
Watch Curry off the ball.
First off, he’s often face-guarded. Bad breath isn’t a foul, but bumping him just to let him know you’re in his face is.
Then, first move he makes, the defender puts one hand on each of his hips, like he’s giving dancing lessons. Uh, that’s a foul.
By the time the world’s greatest shooter comes around a pick (the refs generally do a good job there), he’s been battered, mugged or flat-out assaulted more than the three-strikes program was designed to discourage.
Yet an estimated 911 fouls into his season, Curry has shot 247 free throws, the 42nd-most in the league.
That’s fewer than Tyler Herro, who hasn’t been touched in his life.
So the referees need to call more fouls. Wait, they need to call fewer fouls.
It’s dizzying. Maybe I should just fall down.
