Ranking the Golden State Warriors Who Need to Step Up After Jimmy Butler's Injury

It was only Game 2, but the first-round series between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets may have shifted for good on Wednesday night.

After logging just eight minutes, Jimmy Butler was clipped out of midair by a falling Amen Thompson. The contact sent Butler plummeting to the floor and onto his backside. And the fall, understandably, knocked him out for the rest of the game.

During the broadcast, the team revealed the 35-year-old had been diagnosed with a pelvic contusion and he'll undergo an MRI on Thursday.

Assuming that's the extent of the diagnosis, Butler could miss some games (as his teammates did with the same injury earlier this season) and the outlook for this entire series could suddenly be pretty bleak for Golden State.

Prior to Butler's first game with the team, the Warriors were 25-25, with a minus-0.2 net rating that ranked 16th in the league. Without him around to facilitate on offense and take on difficult assignments on the other end, Golden State might be drawing dead in a series many expected them to win (at least prior to Wednesday).

Surviving now will likely take some breakouts from a number of Warriors, and we've ranked the ones needed most.

There's an argument to go with Moses Moody, Draymond Green or really anyone else here. There's only so much Stephen Curry can do, and you can be pretty sure he'll do it.

But the fact of the matter is, when your second best player is missing, the one guy above him in the hierarchy almost certainly has to do a little more to win.

In the regular season (including its pre-trade portion), Curry averaged 27.0 points per 75 possessions without Butler on the floor. And while that sounds pretty solid, it might not be enough to break a stout, physical Rockets defense that finished fourth in the league in points allowed per 100 possessions.

Curry likely needs to hunt his shot even more aggressively than he typically does, even with the Rockets grabbing, holding, clipping, clawing and generally roughing up the all-timer every chance they get (which is exactly how they've played him all series).

There's an argument for the Warriors to try to turn this series into a rock fight, play the most defense-heavy lineups they can and rely on Houston's sometimes clunky offense to keep them in business.

But they could also try to manufacture the proverbial "math problem," play Quinten Post a bit more and just launch as many threes as possible.

In the regular season, the Rockets were 21st in the league in threes per game at 12.7. Golden State's 15.4 was tied for third. That's potentially an eight- or nine-point gap in the Warriors' favor, and playing Post a bit more could stretch that another three points.

For the season, the big man averaged 8.1 points and 1.7 threes, while shooting 40.8 percent from deep. And beyond the raw numbers, forcing Houston's bigs to chase him outside the three-point line could mitigate (though certainly not eliminate) Golden State's disadvantage on the boards.

Butler only averaged 17.9 points as a Warrior in the regular season, but he had 38 points in Golden State's play-in victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, and he followed that up with 25 in Game 1 of this series.

It looked like we were on the verge of another "Playoff Jimmy" run, and that version of the Hall of Famer does a bit of everything, including scoring.

Someone now has to step up and fill that void (or at least some of it).

One of the more obvious candidates is another player who could help Post with that math problem.

Over his first eight games of this season, Buddy Hield averaged 21.1 points and 4.6 threes, while shooting 50.7 percent from deep.

Golden State probably doesn't need him to be quite that productive, but he'll need to be closer than the player who averaged 10.0 points and shot 34.9 percent from three over the other 74 games.

Brandin Podziemski entered Game 2 with an illness that likely contributed to his zero-point, zero-rebound, zero-assist, zero-steal, zero-block performance, but assuming he's healthy for Saturday's Game 3, Golden State needs a breakout series from him.

Unlike Hield and Post, the 22-year-old can help replace some of Butler's production in both the points and assists column. And that second one may record Butler's more important contributions to the Warriors' offense.

Having a reliable playmaker to create some open looks for Curry makes the superstar's life a lot easier. Podz being a threat to score might take some defensive attention away from Curry, too.

If it doesn't, he has to be able to make the Rockets pay for selling out on Curry.

Jettisoned entirely from the rotation prior to the play-in tournament, Jonathan Kuminga may suddenly be the biggest potential X-factor in this series.

He's 6'8" with a 6'11" wingspan. He can move laterally like a wing. Throughout his career, he's had dunks and rebounds that showcase vertical explosiveness reminiscent of Amar'e Stoudemire.

Even before the Butler injury, it felt like his specific frame and skill set might be crucial for a matchup with the big, physical and athletic Rockets. Now, coach Steve Kerr may have no choice but to use him.

Over the last two seasons, Kuminga averaged 15.8 points. He's not a high-volume playmaker, but he'll get some force-of-will assists out of his drives if he's on the floor long enough. And while his outside shot is far from reliable, he did make 1.0 threes per game in the regular season.

If Butler is out for any amount of time, Golden State has to get more from Kuminga to survive.