Watching a 12-point halftime lead melt in a matter of minutes broke the Warriors even more. Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green were both beside themselves. The team shot 9.5% from beyond the arc in the second half and once again fell short because of a lack of effort. And Butler doesn’t want to mince words anymore.

His opinion? Everybody from the coaching staff and Stephen Curry has done their job. Players just aren’t ‘caring’ enough about following their lead. “It’s just sad,” said Butler while ripping the team apart. That callout didn’t resonate so well with his teammate Brandin Podziemski. But even the young guard understands where Butler’s frustrations stem from.

“I mean, I think we all care, obviously it looks a little bit worse because we lost and you know been losing. No one’s gonna bail us out of this kind of losing funk that we’re in. So, we just got to dig deep. May not look pretty but it’s just how you win,” Podziemski said about the Warriors’ four losses in the last five games.

To Butler’s point, he expects the Warriors to step up defensively. “We let anybody do whatever they want – open shots, get into the paint, free throws,” he said. But in fairness, the Rockets shot worse than the Warriors tonight. The Warriors’ defense managed to live up to the task of generating stops against Houston, who were without Kevin Durant and Steven Adams.

However, the Rockets curbed Curry with their physicality. Knowing the responsibility that comes with being the “Batman of all Batmans,” Jimmy Butler is asking for more from his teammates. Because the two-time MVP has mostly produced. Only five times has he scored under 20 points this season. In November, with the Warriors’ offense struggling, it’s happened thrice. The team has managed to pull out just one win under those circumstances, against a shorthanded Pelicans.

Aside from Curry and Butler, not a single player on the Warriors is averaging 15 points this month. But most importantly, the same mistakes are being repeated persistently. Once again, they proved to doom the Warriors in a game they should have won.

The Warriors need to control their turnovers

Everything about Steve Kerr’s system depends on how swiftly the ball moves from one end to another. When the Warriors turn the ball over fewer times than their opponents, they barely lose. In their four losses over the five games, they have lost the turnover battle three times. Tonight, the same theme led to the Rockets taking advantage of these opportunities.

In the second half, the Warriors turned the ball over 8 times against just 12 assists. What that did is open up transition opportunities, where the Rockets outscored the Warriors 13-6. Essentially, if the Warriors don’t take good care of the ball, their alignment falls apart, leading to defensive lapses.

So, it starts with fixing up the offense. The Warriors are averaging a little under 114 points in the month of November, and average the seventh most turnovers in the league. And this is all happening while Stephen Curry is averaging 28.4 points per game! What seems to be lacking is ferocity. The Warriors can’t win while trying to play pretty basketball. They have to be all guns blazing and put pressure on the teams.

That’s virtually impossible when you lose your biggest asset. Currently, it’s the system that needs fixing. Steve Kerr needs to find some consistent scoring options aside from Curry and Butler. That duo is going to step up and compete. But what he manages to get out of everybody around them will allow the team to create dynamic threats.

Right now, zeroing in all their personnel on Curry is a winning tactic for teams. So, Jimmy Butler might just be right. Players need to take some accountability and put their foot on the gas. Because if this continues and the Warriors fall below the 8 seed in the West, climbing back up will require “perfect” basketball as the former Heat forward noted. At the moment, the Warriors aren’t close to optimal.

How do you think the Warriors can get out of this slump? Let us know your views in the comments below.