If any trouble comes up, Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors can always turn on that Bat light and swooping will come Stephen Curry, who Jimmy Butler fondly calls Batman. But for Game 3, Batman was on the sidelines, nursing his hamstring. And as always is the case, Robin put on his uniform and faced the enemies. Only, Warriors’ Robin, Butler, could not overpower the opponents’ Ant-man. Realistically speaking, one player cannot put on a show, not when the do-or-die games of the playoffs are on the line. Not when a game-3 win could really turn tides in Minnesota’s favor. But he still tried.

In the 102-97 loss at home court, Jimmy unleashed himself for about three and a half quarters against the Timberwolves on Saturday. He doubled his attempts from Saturday to 26 and put up 33 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists in 43 minutes. But the final minutes? Jimmy scored just 7 points in the final 8 minutes, and only 3 of them came before garbage time. By 2:05 remaining, when the Warriors were down 7 points and the Timberwolves increased the pressure even further after Anthony Edwards had already scored 13 of his 36 points in the last quarter, Butler missed thrice in the paint.

But going into the fourth matchup, Butler has a blueprint— be aggressive, break Minnesota’s defense, get in the paint, create mismatch, and generate open looks. He also has a personal goal: “I don’t care how many shots I shoot. I don’t care how many points I score. If it’s not toward winning, none of that ever matters. Twenty-six shots, 36 shots — next time it has to be in a win.” And the Robin has a message for the entire locker room.

In the post-game presser, a reporter asked the forward, “Jimmy, what do you expect, the desperation and the urgency to feel like on Monday when you guys are back on the floor here?” With a cool-headed approach, Butler simply said, “To be straight, I’m not gonna tell my guys to be desperate or is any more urgent than anything. You go out there and you play basketball and you hoop, and you leave all the noise up to myself, to Dray, to Steph, and to the coaching staff. You go out there and you do exactly what you’re doing. You’re doing great. The guys know that.”

While Jimmy, along with Jonathan Kuminga who put up 30 points off the bench, was out there carrying the team, Steve Kerr was busy scratching his head thanks to the Warriors’ supporting cast. Or should we say non-supporting cast? Let’s take a second to talk about the stars not named Jimmy or Kuminga.

• Brandin Podziemski: Has been in the top names for the Warriors, especially in the playoff series. But in Game-3, he went 1-for-10 from the field for a three pointer. That’s a whopping 10% shooting clip. He ended the night with 5 points, 2 assists, and 1 steal. Although he did have a good game off the glass with 8 rebounds. But for a player who stunned everyone with a 26-point night against Houston, this game just might have given Steve Kerr a headache.
• Moses Moody: The shooting guard did have a 25-point outing against Houston, but overall, he has not been in his best form. So we can understand why Kerr is cutting down his time on the floor. But 3 minutes? Only? His stat sheet was empty for yet another night as it has been in the entire Minnesota series so far. Except the negative seven, which only makes it worse.
• Quinten Post: In 3 minutes, his sheet was also blank, with a negative six as it has been in the entire Timberwolves series. Before that too, against Houston, he averaged 17 minutes but only put up 5.3 points. As a player who averaged 8.1 points through the regular season, this outing is certainly not helpful to the Warriors if they want to see Steph return this year, predicted to be in Game 6, if they stay alive to see that matchup.

No wonder, these guys didn’t just miss shots—they missed opportunities, rhythm, and probably the halftime speech too. But with Jimmy continuing to have faith in the locker room and they still standing a chance to turn the tables, much can happen. Still, in this game, it was a Butler-Jonathan show.

Jimmy & Kuminga: The only two who showed up

Jonathan Kuminga came off the bench and dropped a nasty 30-piece on the Wolves, hitting 11-of-18 shots with 3-of-4 from deep. The man was dunking on people, hitting threes, and even talking trash to Anthony Edwards, which, spoiler alert, backfired hilariously.

Edwards responded to Kuminga’s jawing with a flamethrower second half: 15 points in the 3rd, 13 more in the 4th, finishing with 36 points on the night. Seemingly, Kuminga poked the bear and then got mauled.

Edwards later said it wasn’t a poster dunk from Julius Randle or some coaching speech that fired him up—it was Kuminga’s dunk on him. Talk about ‘here lies the motivation that ruined our game.’

To be fair, Randle wasn’t too shabby either—24-12-10 for a smooth triple-double. And let’s not forget Mike Conley, who kept the Wolves offense flowing. But the Wolves didn’t just win—they took Golden State’s hope away.

With Stephen Curry out until at least Game 6, the Warriors are stuck in this awkward reality where they have to win without their supernova. Golden State actually shot 43.5% from deep, but that’s incredibly misleading. It was basically Kuminga and Hield (14 points), while everyone else was throwing up bricks.

The good news? Jimmy’s still here. He’s not panicking, he’s not pointing fingers. He’s doing what leaders do—hooping, motivating, and somehow staying calm while the team collapses. The bad news?

Unless some of these “stars” turn into actual stars, Steve Kerr might have to sub himself in next game. And if the Warriors are counting on Quinten Post for a Game 4 turnaround… well, it might be time to fire up the fishing boat. Game 4. Monday. 10 PM ET. Chase Center. Jimmy’s ready. Is anyone else?