NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: ROCKETS VS WARRIORS

May 2, 2025

Jimmy Butler

Golden State Warriors

Game 6 - Postgame Media Conference

Rockets 115 - Warriors 107

Q. Jimmy, both Steve and Draymond said the four-point shot really seemed to turn the game. Did you feel that?

JIMMY BUTLER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anytime you start out a quarter not organized, not matched up, it's definitely deflating. One play that definitely turned the tides. We're not going to sit here and say that's the real reason why we lost.

Q. What would you say is the reason?

JIMMY BUTLER: We got to get these 50/50 balls, rebound better. That's been the story this entire series. They've gotten the loose balls and they've gotten way too many offensive rebounds.

Q. You missed 14 of your first 15 to open the fourth. What would you say is leading to some of those prolonged offensive droughts?

JIMMY BUTLER: I think it's the depressing part of it.

We'll be fine. We just got to continue to make the right play time after time after time. Somebody's open, they get the ball. You create for somebody else, you going to find yourself more open more often than not.

Q. What would you say is the reason for the lack of hustle plays? Lack of effort?

JIMMY BUTLER: No, I won't say it's a lack of effort. It's just if you want to do it or not. That is the bottom line. If you want to rebound, dive on a loose ball, take a charge. All those little things is if you want to do it. It's really that simple.

Q. You talk about taking the right shot or getting to the right shot. Do you think some of the guys are turning down the right shot too often?

JIMMY BUTLER: Sometimes, yeah. But too much of any good thing is a bad thing. You can be way too unselfish. You can be way too passive. I think you got to find a fine line.

Yes, obviously if Steph is open, you pass up your shot to get it to him. But when it comes to everybody else, if you find your shot, you're in rhythm, you take it. If not, it's simple: pass it to the next open guy, create for somebody else or create for yourself.

I think sometimes we do a lot of thinking and it doesn't end well for us.

Q. I think you've been in four Game 7s. Draymond and Steph have played five. On the other side they have 10. Where does the experience of being in Game 7 help you the most?

JIMMY BUTLER: I think we just know how important it is. They do, too, though. On the road, backs against the wall, I think this is why you play this game. I know, we know, that we have the opportunity to win a game, so...

On the road at Houston, Game 7, Sunday at some time.

Q. You said the confidence hasn't wavered. Now that you lost two in a row, where is it at now?

JIMMY BUTLER: All time high. Now, out of all times, it's win or go home. It's not wavering. We know how good of a team we are. Like you said, a couple of us have been here before multiple times. It's on us to make sure we get it done.

Q. From your experience, what does a Game 7 feel like? What is the vibe like, the energy?

JIMMY BUTLER: Yeah, it's definitely going to be high energy. Shouldn't feel different for anybody. You go out there and play basketball the way you know how to play it. For us, for my teammates, those nerves don't need to set in. We're going to be just fine.

Game 7 is not the hardest thing in the world, so we'll be okay.

Q. Steven Adams has been a huge factor in this series, in this game. When you look at some of the offensive boards he's getting, what is an adjustment you can make for Game 7 to try to neutralize him?

JIMMY BUTLER: Just get the ball. You got to jump, get the ball. It's hard, it is. But if you want to win in this league, you definitely got to do some hard things, so...

Just got to go get the ball.

Q. As one who is guarding him, you have the tailbone, how do you feel physically?

JIMMY BUTLER: Good enough. Good enough. I probably got to jump up there and get some more rebounds. I've been being lazy. I'm going definitely going to chase after the loose balls, dive, do all that good stuff come Game 7. I should have been doing it anyways.

Lead by example. If I do it, everybody else got to do it.

Q. You know end of games, tight games, it's about getting inside, attacking the paint. Do you feel like y'all are doing that? Are you settling for too many threes in the high leverage moments?

JIMMY BUTLER: We already shoot a lot of threes. We're going to take the shots that are given to us. It actually is my job to make sure I get inside the paint and get some layups, get to the free-throw line, collapse the defense, kick it to the open shooter. If I haven't been doing enough, I will do it more.

Q. You and Steph carry the heaviest load on the offensive end. What do you need from your supporting cast? Effort, production, efficiency?

JIMMY BUTLER: Confidence. Keep them confident. Keep doing what y'all are doing. It's not only y'all, it's on all of us. So we going to win together, we're going to lose together. I know we're definitely going to win together come Sunday.

Q. How would you describe the vibe before the game tonight?

JIMMY BUTLER: We good. We good. We smiling. We listening to our music, celebrating life. We're ready to compete. We were ready to compete tonight. Things didn't go our way. Okay, we're going to be ready to compete on Sunday. We're going to make the game go our way.

Q. Steven Adams was a factor for the Rockets. Going into Game 7, how do you adjust to what he was able to do tonight?

JIMMY BUTLER: We'll be all right. I think we got to stop focusing so much on them and focus on us. If we do that, then we're going to be fine. We're not going to sit here and act like we've been playing our best version of basketball because we haven't. They've been doing okay, but they haven't played their best version of basketball either.

So what we're going to do, we're going to focus on us, get the ball from Steven Adams for the last time. We got to focus on us. We can't keep focusing on the Houston Rockets.

Q. From the outside a lot of people are saying this team is veteran, 35, 37, now they got to go all the way back to Houston with very little rest. How do you react to this kind of noise about age and travel?

JIMMY BUTLER: I've never been one to listen to the outside noise or people as a whole 'cause they just be saying stuff, and half of it don't make sense.

We'll be all right. I mean, I'm 35. Hell, I can't remember how old Steph is. I think Dray 35, too. We'll be all right. Everybody got to travel the same distance. Ain't like we're going to go around the world and land in Houston and they only got a five-minute flight to Houston. They got to travel just like we got to travel.