The Golden State Warriors have a clear mission in mind on Sunday night, and that’s to steal away home court from the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their opening-round series of the NBA playoffs. 

It was the No. 2 seed Rockets who entered this contest as a slight favorite, but the No. 7 Warriors had no intention of letting the odds get in the way of their quest to draw first blood in this series. 

This was certainly the case for Jimmy Butler, who made his Warriors playoff debut on Sunday night. The six-time All-Star was feeling himself through the first three quarters of play after making 6-of-10 field goal attempts. 

Butler then made it 7-of-11 by hitting his first triple of the evening at the 7:30 mark of the third quarter to give Golden State a huge 20-point lead. 

Butler knew that NBA shooting legend Reggie Miller was doing commentary for the game for TNT, and the Warriors vet just had to give the Hall of Famer a shoutout after hitting a big three.

NBA on TNT television analyst Reggie Miller during the Los Angeles Lakers against the Phoenix Suns during an NBA Cup game.

© Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

TNT’s Kevin Harlan saw Butler’s gesture toward Miller, and the award-winning commentator quickly paraphrased Butler’s message.  

“Jimmy Butler,” Harlan said. “That’s right. He points at Reggie Miller and said, ‘I’m doing my best impression of you.'”

Butler isn’t exactly a three-point specialist, but he does make them when it matters. This was a perfect example of that, and Butler just couldn’t resist pointing to Miller after finding the bottom of the net from distance. 

The Rockets are not giving up without a fight, though. They pulled themselves together and fought back in the third quarter to cut the lead to just nine points. 

As of writing, the Warriors are up, 69-60, entering the fourth quarter in what is looking like a race to the finish in Game 1.