MINNEAPOLIS – Despite Stephen Curry out of action since Game 1, and losing Games 2, 3 and 4, the Warriors were bristling with confidence in the hours before Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Much of the belief expressed after Golden State’s shootaround Wednesday stems from a plan to thwart Minnesota star Anthony Edwards, whose scoring efficiency has improved with each game.
Golden State will attempt to annoy Edwards by sending a variety of defenders, often more than one. Consider it the “Anybody but Ant” defense, led by Gary Payton II and Buddy Hield, Draymond Green lurking in the vicinity.
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SIGN UP HERE “He’s missed a lot of bunnies at the rim,” Payton told NBC Sports Bay Area on Wednesday, well before the 6:30 pm (Pacific) tipoff. “I don’t know how much that affects his game, but as much as we can frustrate him – or he gets frustrated at himself for missing easy ones – we’re on the right track.
“We just can’t let him get going in the second half, like he has been the past couple games.”
Hield told NBC Sports Bay Area that the Warriors want Edwards and the Wolves to feel both physical and emotional pressure,
“Just keep trying to make them get tight,” Hield said. “They know it's a close-out game. But we know that if we can turn it up, the odds can go in our favor.
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“But we gotta make sure (Edwards) feels you. Because if he feels you, then he knows he's there. And shots come harder. And if he misses like three or four in a row, then maybe he starts pressing.”
The Warriors, so far, have had mixed success with that approach. It worked well enough in Game 1, when Edwards finished with 23 points on 9-of-22 shooting from the field, including 1-of-5 from deep, while committing three turnovers. Edwards in Game 2, Minnesota’s most decisive win, took only 13 shots, scoring 20 points, while Julius Randle and Nickeil Alexander-Walker combined for 44 points on 17-of-30 shooting, including 5-of-10 from distance.
In the last two games, however, Edwards has torched Golden State for 66 points, with half that total coming on 11-of-25 shooting beyond the arc.
“I’ll continue to touch him as much as I can. Before the play, after the play in between,” Gary Payton II told NBC Sports Bay Area. “If he sees me coming, he knows I’m going to touch him in some way. I’m about to push him or bump him. He knows it. A lot of guys don’t like it. I know he don’t like it.
"But he’s still going to hoop. He’s still going to be him. The only thing you can do with talented guys like him is let him know you’re there and limit his clean touches.”
There also, particularly between Edwards and GP2, will be considerable verbal sparring. It was there in the regular season and in the first four games of the series. It’s a mutual respect thing; Edwards went over to GP2’s dad, Hall of Famer Gary Payton, to exchange pleasantries after Game 4 at Chase Center.
“He mixes in a little talking,” GP2 said. “If I get a stop, he wants to talk to the refs about what I’m doing. It’s completely fun. But if he’s worried about me, that might be at least one possession where he’s not locked in. As much as I can get him off the ball, make him swing it, it’s a win for us.”
Expect various traps and blitzes directed at Edwards, the goal being to irritate him or make him pass the ball – or both. The Warriors seem willing to take their chances with the other Timberwolves, whether its Randle or Alexander-Walker, Jaden McDaniels or Mike Conley or even the dangerous Naz Reid.
Edwards, they feel, is the man who energizes his teammates and the crowds at Target Center. They generally go as he goes.
“The key for us is game-plan discipline,” coach Steve Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area. “High hands, crowd him and don’t reach. We reached a few times in earlier games, and it hurt us.”
The last time the Timberwolves won a playoff series in their building was 2004. Edwards was two years old. The Edwards-led Timberwolves have closed out playoff series, all on the road, most recently against the Lakers on April 30 in Los Angeles.
Game 5 will reveal whether confidence in Golden State’s approach translates to the court well enough to force the series back to the Bay Area for Game 6.