MINNEAPOLIS — A weird scene went down early in the second quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ gutsy Game 1 road win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. Forty-eight hours post an elimination survival win in Houston, about 30 hours after landing in town straight from Texas, the weary Warriors — facing a significant four-day rest and prep disadvantage — went up 30-20 on the third of Draymond Green’s four first-half 3s.
Green let out a loud roar at the Minnesota bench as Timberwolves coach Chris Finch called a timeout. The Warriors’ bench quickly rushed the floor to celebrate their boisterous entrance into this second-round series, showing the oomph and energy they had promised despite the condensed schedule. However, as Green turned to celebrate the surge with Curry, he noticed his star point guard limping to the locker room. Curry was seen grabbing at his upper leg.
“I didn’t see that he grabbed his hamstring,” Green mentioned. “I just saw him limping a bit. I walked over to tell him good pass and asked him, ‘You good?’ He said, ‘I’ll be back.’ So we didn’t know for a long time. Then they finally told us it was a hamstring. Little deflating.”
General manager Mike Dunleavy followed Curry to the back and emerged 10 minutes later, breaking the news to Green on his way back to the bench. Left hamstring strain. Curry was finished for the night. He is set to undergo an MRI on Thursday, but the Warriors are gearing up to play without him in Game 2 and possibly beyond. He left the arena with a noticeable limp.
“Absolutely crushed,” Steve Kerr expressed about Curry’s mood at halftime.
Before the strain, Game 1 felt like a free swing for the Warriors, a no-pressure opportunity to steal a road game from the well-rested Timberwolves. However, following Curry’s exit, the pressure and urgency escalated. A 10-point lead rapidly turned into nearly 20. If they were to have any chance to survive long enough in this series for Curry to heal and make a return, it felt absolutely necessary that they secured Game 1.
“He did a great job of building us a comfortable lead,” Green acknowledged. “Then Robin turned into Batman, and what y’all call Buddy (Hield)? Alfred turned into Robin.”
Jimmy Butler provided enough fourth-quarter offense to drag Golden State across the finish line. Hield scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half, continuing his sudden playoff explosion. But Green felt like the most crucial player in the game.
After sitting in single digits the first six games of the playoffs, Green scored 16 first-half points and 18 total while also leading another brick wall defensive effort. The Warriors held the Timberwolves to 11 second-quarter points, 31 first-half points, and 88 total. It’s the third time in these playoffs they’ve held an opponent below 90.
Green is the engine behind that effort. He defended Julius Randle on several of his bully-ball drives, limiting him to four makes, his fewest in the playoffs. He helped keep Rudy Gobert off the glass as well as possible. Then he plugged as many gaps and erased as many mistakes as he could.
Just look at these consecutive early third-quarter possessions. Green rotates over to contest what appeared to be an Anthony Edwards line drive to the rim, forcing a reverse miss. Then, on a single possession, he deters a Mike Conley drive, soft-doubles a Randle post-up of Brandin Podziemski to force a pass and shuts down a Jaden McDaniels drive.
The Timberwolves missed their first 15 3s and went 5 of 29 from deep, an abnormally bad shooting night from a team that finished fourth among the 30 NBA teams in 3-point percentage this season. Credit Green and the Warriors’ swarming defense for a portion of it. Credit fortune for a portion of it.
Minnesota didn’t sleep through the entire game, though. The Wolves revved up the offensive engine in the third quarter. Edwards missed his first 10 shots but made nine of his next 12 and finished with 23 points. Naz Reid had 19 points and hit some timely shots. Randle made all 10 of his free throws.
So there were threatening times for the Warriors, facing an opponent and crowd that seemed to smell blood even down 20 because they knew who wasn’t out there bombing 3s from the other side. Minnesota cut the lead to under 10 a few times in the fourth quarter.
The second half tested the Warriors’ depth and mettle, and they passed. Kerr delved deep into his rotation, pulled almost all the correct strings, and received both minor and major contributions from several spots in his re-forming rotation.
Pat Spencer was given backup point guard duties in the second half and bolted off the bench with his tough, aggressive approach. He poked away two steals, grabbed two rebounds, and hit a layup and running hook. Kerr said Spencer will be a part of the Game 2 rotation without Curry.
“Pat is a damn good basketball player,” Green said. “I know it don’t look like it. … The No. 61 don’t help. … But Pat is one of the toughest players on this team.”
Kevon Looney delivered 14 sturdy minutes. He entered out of the bullpen in the middle of the fourth quarter after Green picked up his fifth foul and played the role of set-up man — grabbing two huge offensive rebounds and holding down the interior long enough for Green to return to close.
Gary Payton II shook off a recent illness and left elbow issue, fought his way back onto the active list, and played a bench-high 26 minutes, finishing with four assists, five rebounds, and eight points, including a corner 3 with 3:13 left that might’ve been the biggest shot of the game.
Jonathan Kuminga also hit a fourth-quarter 3 from that left corner. He entered the series out of the rotation again, but Curry’s injuries and Moses Moody’s continued struggles made Kerr turn to Kuminga for scoring. He wasn’t flawless, but he seemed to finally find a bit of a rhythm and even cut for this layup — the type of slashing points the Warriors will need from Kuminga as this series advances without Curry.
Then there’s Hield and Butler.
“I’m Batman today,” Hield said. “I saved the day.”
Hield put together his two best nights in a Warriors uniform, on the two most important nights of the season, for a team in desperate need of offense. Backing up a 33-point Game 7 in Houston, Hield opened the game wearing the wrong shorts, forcing an odd timeout 59 seconds into the game to avoid a delay of game while he went to change.
That seemed to indicate the type of night it’d be for Hield. He missed his first seven shots.
But Hield then detonated in the second half, scoring 22 points while serving as the primary defender on Edwards. His made 3 with 2:32 left felt like the final dagger.
Butler set up both Hield’s and Payton’s 3s. Kerr put the ball in Butler’s hands the entire fourth quarter, calling it a “comfortable” feeling knowing that Butler was bleeding out the clock and controlling the tempo, saying he was even fine with shot-clock violations over frantic turnovers.
“Jimmy is as good as any star in the league at reading the game and controlling the tempo,” Kerr said.
Butler finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, and two steals. He banked in a second-half 3 and made a huge floater when the lead appeared to be wobbling. He was talking at his locker postgame about the need to get into the gym during a scheduled off day on Wednesday to sharpen his one-on-one game, because he knows his scoring will be needed in the near future without Curry.
