As the three-minute mark was approaching the second quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ 121-116 win over the Memphis Grizzlies to secure a playoff date against the Houston Rockets, Scottie Pippen Jr. had just drilled a free throw, after which the Warriors had a chance to run a half-court set. In a game of basketball, stoppages such as timeouts, beginning of games, beginning of halves, and free throws afford teams to settle down and run something of coherence.

The yell was faint on broadcast, but with a bit of listening focus and effort, one could hear someone yell out what could be construed as a play call to let players know what the Warriors had decided to run at that moment:

As it turns out, “Elbow” is what the Warriors call out for Jimmy Butler to set an away screen for Moses Moody in the corner, followed by Butler receiving the ball at or near the elbow — hence, the play call. With Luke Kennard on Moody, the aim was for Kennard to switch onto Butler, a matchup the Warriors wanted and something the Grizzlies certainly wanted to avoid at all costs. As such, Kennard ducks under the screen to stay on Moody, who curls and clears to the other side.

In typical Butlerian fashion, Butler slows things down to a crawl, having failed to coax Kennard onto him. Santi Aldama backs off slightly, not fazed by Butler’s pull-up chops (although Butler had drilled a couple of threes previously). Butler takes a few seconds to survey and process the situation at hand (seeing Ja Morant as the low man and Jaren Jackson Jr. in no position to rotate on time, perhaps), before signaling to Steph Curry to come off of him for two-man handoff action.

For the defender marking the ball handler about to hand the ball off to Curry, the prospect of having to decide how to defend Curry around the handoff can be awfully distracting. Aldama takes his eyes off of Butler for a mere split second — and finds out that Butler isn’t just any two-man handoff partner.

Butler’s “keep” just about causes Aldama to be off balance. Morant rotates but ends up fouling Butler on the drive — and sends him to the line for two of his 18 free-throw attempts (six of which were missed, perhaps the only negative mark on Butler’s otherwise productive and impactful night).

Another “Elbow” possession, this time run near the seven-minute mark of the third quarter and the broadcast clearly showing Steve Kerr’s play call…

… flips the situation around, with Butler now being the recipient of the away screen by Brandin Podziemski, in an effort to coax the Grizzlies into switching Desmond Bane onto Butler. The Grizzlies still refuse to acquiesce the switch — but in Aldama’s efforts to navigate around the screen, he falls behind, giving Butler a lane to drive and draw yet another shooting foul.

Amid talks of Butler’s apparent “lack of drive and assertiveness” during his Warriors tenure, Butler upped the ante, as he is wont to do in big-stakes games in the postseason, whether it be a matter of clinching the playoffs or being stuck in the doldrums of the play-in bracket, or playoff games where implications can reverberate throughout the course of a single game as strongly as it can throughout an entire series. Butler delivered the goods the Warriors expected out of him when they traded for him at the trade deadline: 38 points on 20 shot attempts, 18 free-throw attempts, and 68.1% True Shooting, with 7 rebounds and 6 assists to accompany his scoring night.

With the Grizzlies opting to match 7’4” Zach Edey onto Butler, the Warriors zeroed in on that matchup right away, with “Elbow” being the play run for Butler below, where he drives against Edey and beats him to an offensive board and putback:

What gave Warriors fans a bullish outlook on the Warriors’ playoff chances wasn’t only due to Butler’s ability to up his sliders to maximum — it’s also due to how Butler was able to maximize his ability to impact the game with someone like Curry beside him. For all of his reputation as an assertive “alpha” who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, Butler has always looked for a running partner who can garner enough of his respect for him to be comfortable being the second banana — albeit, a second banana that approximates the impact of a main option.

“I think any team has a chance when I’m on the team,” Butler said to reporters after the game. “But I know every team has a chance when Steph’s on the team. I get to play Robin, (Steph’s) my Batman.”

Curry added 37 points of his own on 22 shots and 66.7% True Shooting. He stood out on his own merits, both as an on-ball shot creator and as an off-ball wrecking ball of chaos. But his connection with Butler on several actions stood out, if only to preview what the Rockets could be seeing in their playoff series.

Perhaps the most eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing: an inverted pick-and-roll between Butler and Curry, with Curry setting the ball screen for Butler. On its own, that action already causes confusion among most defenses in terms of what coverage to play. When the Warriors decide to add an additional layer to it — in the form of a “blind-corner” handoff between Draymond Green and Curry — the Grizzlies were blindsided by something they figuratively and literally did not see coming:

The Edey involvement loomed large above, in the sense that he was drawn away from the corner action by Butler’s drive off of Curry’s screen. The Warriors — perhaps the team most experienced with picking apart specific matchups on the floor and forcing opponents to adapt drastically as a result — may have given all of us a preview of what the upcoming playoff series would look like.

The Rockets are a much tougher opponent that provides more of a physical, athletic, and age challenge. But the Warriors have Butler and Curry, two of the most seasoned and sharpened playoff weapons in the league. The Warriors gave themselves a chance to clinch a playoff spot by acquiring Butler; now, they have to prove that they can make a deep run with him.