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NBA Jimmy Butler took control for the Warriors Saturday night against New Orleans. Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images SAN FRANCISCO — The player who Jimmy Butler wants to be and the player who the Golden State Warriors need him to be with Stephen Curry out both showed up in Saturday’s 104-96 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. The player the 36-year-old wants to be, the one who makes the right basketball play no matter the situation, was there throughout much of the game, racking up 24 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in 37 minutes. Advertisement “Fourteen free throws and 10 assists, ” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We ran everything through him and he delivered. But that’s to be expected. He’s a superstar for a reason. ” The player the Warriors need him to be in this stretch without Curry, and sometimes even when Curry is on the floor, was out there, too, specifically when he made a couple baskets in a row late in the third quarter, or when he knocked down a bucket with just over a minute left in regulation to help seal the game. Gary Payton II also hit some crucial shots as he dropped in 19 points and grabbed a career high 11 rebounds, but it was Butler who carried a struggling Warriors group across the finish line in a game they had to have, with a date against the defending NBA champs Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday and a three-game east-coast swing on the horizon. Butler’s ability to control the game at his own pace and be the difference maker the Warriors can lean on were among the main reasons the Warriors acquired him last season. “We were trying to get him to attack that way in the beginning, ” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “And he just kept telling us, ‘They’re loading up. So we need to create some other movement because they’re just loading. ’ Once everybody else started moving around him, then it opened gaps, and he was able to do what he did. So when Steph’s not out there, we definitely need him to be more aggressive, and he was tonight. ” Green made the point that without Curry on the floor, the Warriors “definitely called a lot more plays, ” and played with much less randomness than usual. To succeed without Curry, Green added, the Warriors need to play with more structure and move the ball faster. What they also need is for Butler to continue to impose his will as he did against a bad Pelicans team, the same way he has done during his rise to NBA stardom over a 15-year career. Butler knows it’s within his game, he just doesn’t like to force things unless it’s necessary. Advertisement As far as the Warriors are concerned, as long as Curry is out, it will be necessary. “Jimmy doesn’t necessarily want to shoot the ball, ” Kerr said. “He really prefers just making the right basketball play. He reminds me so much of Andre Iguodala in that regard. He’s very principled in his approach to basketball. He wants everybody to play the right way. He wants to make the right pass. But there are times, and tonight was one of them, where we just need him to take over and to attack, and look to score. And he did that tonight. ” Iguodala, who was sitting courtside Saturday night to see his longtime Warriors teammate Kevon Looney (now a member of the Pelicans), was honored after 10 years in the Bay. Iguodala saw firsthand in the NBA bubble just how hard Butler plays and struck up a solid bond with him during the Miami Heat’s unlikely run to the NBA Finals that season. There is a lot of mutual respect between the two for how each goes about their business. It’s high praise from Kerr to invoke Iguodala’s name in any comparison. Kerr said Butler was “incredible” in taking over Saturday’s game, but Butler still shrugged off the notion that he will have to do more offensively with Curry out. “Sometimes, ” Butler said. “But I’m still going to play basketball the right way. If you’re open, I’m going to pass you the ball. I don’t care what anybody says. That’s the (right) basketball play. And I expect the person that’s open to shoot it or create something else for somebody else because that’s the basketball play. ” Butler wants to pick his spots. He wants his teammates to take care of the ball, and he believes the right play will always materialize from movement. But he also has the confidence — and the ego — to know when it’s time to make his mark on a game. The confidence that Butler provides the rest of the Warriors appeared to be shaken late in the second quarter after he got undercut by Pelicans guard Micah Peavy under the basket, but Butler stayed in the game. When asked if it was more his elbow or his hip that got hurt, Butler said it was “straight ass, ” cracking up Green, who was getting changed nearby. Butler sounded optimistic that he can play on Tuesday and reiterated how much he enjoys competing with this group. Advertisement “I think we got a special team, ” Butler said. “So let’s go out there and show that we can do something special come Tuesday. ” To do that, especially against a Thunder team that dominated them earlier this month, it’s Butler who will have to put on a special performance. He may not want to be the kind of player who takes over a game and plays a one-on-one style, but if the Warriors want to have success without Curry on the floor, that’s exactly what Butler will have to do. Just like he did on Saturday night. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Nick Friedell is a Senior Writer for The Athletic covering the Golden State Warriors and the NBA. Nick spent 14 years at ESPN covering the NBA, most notably as a reporter as well as a TV and radio commentator. He is a graduate of The Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Follow Nick on X @Nick Friedell.