Stephen Curry may still be the leading man for the Golden State Warriors, but he’s far from being the only man on their roster who can impact games.
In Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals versus the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday, he went down with a hamstring strain in the first half and was ruled out for the rest of the contest. Although the Warriors managed to take a 44-31 halftime lead, their chances of winning seemed to be in peril.
But they got plenty of offensive contributions from others afterward, and it was enough for a 99-88 win. Buddy Hield led them in scoring with 24 points, and Draymond Green praised his teammates as only he could.
He said that Jimmy Butler became the leading man and Hield became a second banana by making an analogy to the Batman franchise.
“Robin turned into Batman,” Green said, referring to Butler. “What y’all call Buddy? Alfred turned into Robin, and they filled in.”
“Robin turned into Batman. What y’all call Buddy? Alfred turned into Robin, and they filled in.”
Draymond on Jimmy and Buddy after Steph left the game with hamstring injury pic.twitter.com/ObWZTDvSqR
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) May 7, 2025
Hield is a huge reason Golden State made it to this series to begin with. In Game 7 of the first round versus the Houston Rockets, he exploded for 33 points and shot 12-of-15 overall and 9-of-11 from 3-point range in a 103-89 win.
On Tuesday, Green had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Butler contributed 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. It wasn’t exactly pretty, as Golden State shot 39.1% from the field, but it was able to steal the opening game of the series on the road.
Butler’s arrival in a big February trade suddenly made Golden State a much deeper and more resourceful team. Suddenly, men such as Hield and Green didn’t have to help Curry carry the offensive load nearly as much and could simply focus on playing supporting roles.
However, with Curry’s status for the rest of this series in doubt, everyone else may have to go into overdrive in order to reach the Western Conference Finals.
Related: Warriors’ Draymond Green Makes NBA History Amid Playoffs
