“I knew Robin was out tonight, so I had to step up,” Buddy Heild said during the presser after GSW confirmed their lead against the Rockets 2-1. “Buddy, stop trying to dribble. I hate that,” Jimmy Butler told Buddy Hield back in March. Hield shot right back, calling the triple-double Jimmy had that night “fake.” It’s clear to anyone that Hield is Jimmy’s “buddy” and vice versa. But tonight, we learned exactly how close the two are in the aftermath of Game 3 against the Houston Rockets.

Tonight, at the sidelines, the cameras caught an interesting interaction between the pair, to say the least. Donning street clothes after a pelvic contusion ruled him out, Jimmy Butler sat next to Buddy Hield on the Dubs’ bench. He then began mocking the way Buddy handles the ball. Not one to take it lying down, Buddy did a poor imitation of Jimmy’s mockery. And after the game, he revealed what really went down and what it means for the dynamic between the two.

During his post-game interview, a reporter asked him what Jimmy said on the bench. “He was talking about me getting my ball picked from Steven Adams, and he’s telling me to go by him. Me and him always getting into it, though. He’s my big brother, so he’s good. There you go. All in good fun,” explained Hield after the game. And it really did seem like Hield and Jimmy were both playing, with neither trying to embarrass the other.

Now, in hindsight, this moment seems fairly innocent. However, it didn’t seem that way during the game. The Rockets’ suffocating defense meant even the Dubs’ second-string players had to create off the dribble. And before the interaction with Jimmy, Hield had lost the ball to Steven Adams, someone not known for being quick on the feet. It just went further in exposing his deficiencies in handling the ball. But apart from Adams’ and an iso with Jalen Green, Hield did well to limit his errors.

Hield only turned the ball over twice tonight in the 29 minutes he spent on the court. And he registered 17 points tonight, his highest tally of the postseason. It seems Jimmy’s banter-heavy advice paid off for Buddy. However, one person who was not amused by the sideline interaction tonight was Stephen Curry. And his reaction to the whole thing was quite telling.

Stephen Curry left unamused by Buddy Hield and Jimmy Butler as Game 3 exposes the Dubs

Now, everything may be fine and dandy between Buddy Hield and Jimmy Butler. But Stephen Curry’s reaction to their interaction hinted at issues below the surface for the Dubs. You see, Steph was sitting right next to the duo of Hield and Butler as they had their playful back-and-forth.

But the 4x NBA champion wasn’t laughing with them. No, he was not laughing at all. In fact, the only reaction the two prompted from Curry was silent judgment. Now it could be that Curry was simply laser-focused on the task at hand — beating the Rockets. However, his reaction made it abundantly clear that his patience was running out.

And it wasn’t hard to see why. The Warriors looked shaky tonight. Without Jimmy Butler to make things more difficult, the Rockets’ defense was able to isolate and target the metronome that beats at the heart of the Dubs — Stephen Curry. With that, the Dubs’ fluid movement of the ball was gone. In its place, we saw rushed isolations and inefficient shooting. In fact, their shooting was so off tonight that the Dubs had only 3 more three-pointers than the Rockets despite attempting nearly twice as many.

It’s clear the Golden State Warriors need Jimmy Butler. And no one knows this better than Steph. “I think we all know, we’re trying to win 14 more of these. We need Jimmy to do that,” he said after the tough win in Game 3, speaking on his locker room’s behalf.

But they may have to stay the course without him for another game. And everyone on the Dubs roster knows this will take a Herculean effort. Not just from stars like Steph but also from role players like Buddy. So can they do it? We’ll find out soon when Game 4 rolls around!