As I continue this New Year’s series recapping the Warriors’ most gold-blooded performances of 2025, we just covered Steph Curry’s heroic 36-point domination against Houston in Game 3 without his injured co-star Jimmy Butler. That performance mattered so much precisely because we’d already witnessed what these two could do together when everything was on the line.
Eleven days earlier, Butler delivered the performance that punched Golden State’s ticket to the postseason. Against the same Memphis Grizzlies
who had eliminated the Warriors from the Play-In Tournament back in 2021, Butler provided the definitive answer to the question lingering all season: Does Curry finally have another co-pilot who can absolutely go bonkers and dominate if the pressurized moment requires it?
The answer, delivered in 38 points of playoff fury, was an emphatic yes.
Don’t forget: the Dubs stumbled into the Play-In after losing in overtime to the Clippers in the regular season finale. This was a team that finished 7th in the West, a squad that had struggled to stay above .500 without Butler all season, now facing elimination against a Grizzlies team carrying all kinds of ghosts.
Enter Playoff Jimmy. He didn’t just score 38 points, he actually orchestrated a masterclass that fundamentally changed how defenses had to approach the Warriors. Memphis came in with a clear plan: trap Curry, swarm him with Scotty Pippen Jr. and the gang, and force anyone else to beat you.
Butler took that blueprint and set it on fire. He shot 12-for-20 from the field and made 12 of 18 free throws, his highest-scoring game since joining Golden State at the trade deadline. Here’s what made this performance so significant: It proved Curry was back to having a legitimate All-Star level second option. One who could absorb playoff pressure instead of deflecting it. Curry had torched Memphis for 52 points on their home floor just two weeks earlier. Curry still got his 37 points this time around, but he didn’t have to do it alone.
Butler grabbed seven rebounds, dished six assists, and nabbed three steals while controlling the game’s tempo whenever Golden State needed a bucket or momentum shift. When Curry buried them with a late bomb, Memphis was already exhausted; softened by 40 minutes of Butler dragging defenders into the deep end. The Warriors had been 0-3 in Play-In games entering this matchup. Butler erased all that history with one performance, proving this iteration was fundamentally different.
As we head into 2026, this performance stands as one of the foundational moments that defined the Warriors’ season. Without Butler’s brilliance against Memphis, there’s no playoff berth. Without the playoff berth, there’s no Game 3 heroics from Curry. Happy New Year, Dub Nation. The best is yet to come!
