Just after a month after declaring that the trio of Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga and Draymond Green "doesn't fit real well," Steve Kerr will suddenly need it to in order for the Golden State Warriors to take down the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 at Chase Center on Saturday.
The front court trio will have the opportunity to make Kerr eat his words from a month ago, and if they do it could have far more long-reaching impacts than just what happens in this second-round series.
Can Jonathan Kuminga co-exist with Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green?
After going big in starting Quinten Post in Game 2 on Thursday, Kuminga got the start in the third-quarter as the Warriors tried to find an alternative form of offense without injured superstar Stephen Curry.
It was Kerr going against his own belief, which in fairness was backed by the regular season numbers that had Golden State possessing a -24.9 net rating in the 38 minutes Butler, Kuminga and Green shared the floor together.
"But the lineup with Jimmy, Jonathan and Draymond doesn't fit real well, frankly. It just doesn't," Kerr told 95.7 The Game's Willard and Dibs last month. "We need more spacing. We've found other lineups that have clicked, and this is just part of the deal, being in the NBA, and you've got to adapt to whatever's happening with the team."
That final comment may be the most important in regard to the team's current situation. The Butler, Kuminga and Green trio may not conventionally work, but Curry's injury means Kerr and the Warriors have little choice but to adapt and hope it works within this scenario.
That doesn't mean Kerr's spacing concerns suddenly disappear. After outscoring the Timberwolves by 39 from the 3-point line in a Game 1 victory, Golden State shot just 9-of-32 (28.1%) from beyond the arc in their blowout Game 2 loss.
How do the Warriors find enough shooting with Butler, Kuminga and Green, particularly when Brandin Podziemski is just 5-of-22 (22.7%) from 3-point range himself over the last four games? Perhaps more importantly, how do we expect Butler to activate into 'Playoff Jimmy' when Minnesota are going to be comfortable packing the paint and mid-range area.
The one really optimistic aspect is that the trio worked together in Game 2, having held a 40.5 net rating in the 11 minutes they played together. That number drops slightly across the course of their 21 minutes together in the playoffs, but it still sits at a healthy 16.2.
The Warriors will need that to continue into Game 3 and beyond, with the Timberwolves set to enter as favorites despite the series switching back to Chase Center. While that is the short-term ambition, the effectiveness of the Butler, Kuminga, Green trio over the next few games could dictate how much the franchise is willing to pay the young forward as a restricted free agent in the offseason.