MINNEAPOLIS – The Warriors showed little signs of fatigue 48 hours after their Game 7 win in the first round of the NBA playoffs, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 99-88 Tuesday night at the Target Center in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
But the win can’t be as celebrated as usual.
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SIGN UP HERE Steph Curry, in the second quarter, grabbed at the back of his left leg and was ruled out for the remainder of the game with a strained hamstring. The Warriors once led by 23 points before holding off the Timberwolves in the end.
Draymond Green’s offensive revival again proved to be huge. The defensive star scored 18 points to go with eight rebounds, six assists and two steals. He scored 40 total points in the first six games of the first round and now has totaled 34 in the Warriors’ last two games.
Buddy Hield missed all seven of his shots in the first half, scoring two points at the free-throw line. His activity turned to scoring production in the third quarter, putting up 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Hield ended with 24 points and five threes to become the first player in NBA history to total 14 threes in a two-game playoff span.
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Jimmy Butler, in his return to Minnesota, was stellar, posting a near triple-double of 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards was held to one point in the first half, but scored 22 in the final two quarters. The Timberwolves only scored 31 points through two quarters, the fewest first-half points the Warriors have allowed for a playoff game in the shot clock era. In their first-round series win, the Timberwolves averaged 107.4 points, almost 20 more than what they finished with Tuesday night.
Countless layups rimmed in and out, and the Timberwolves were colder than ice-cold from 3-point range. The Warriors went 18 of 42 on threes (42.9 percent), and the Timberwolves were 5 of 29 (17.2 percent)
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ Game 1 win.
Surviving Steph’s Injury
Just as the Warriors were finding their flow, Curry was forced to limp to the locker room in the second quarter. On back-to-back possessions, Curry hit a rainbow of a three from the left wing that floated high into the air and through the nets, grabbed Donte DiVincenzo’s missed three and went coast to coast for a floater. But almost immediately, it became clear something was wrong.
Curry began grabbing at his left hamstring and motioned to the Warriors’ bench that he needed to be taken out. He wasn’t noticed at first and play resumed. Somehow, Curry still managed to make an impact by finding Green for a three. The Timberwolves then called a timeout and Curry slowly limped across the court and right down the tunnel back to the Warriors’ locker room with director of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini.
It looked like Curry could have been in for a huge night, too. He was a plus-10, having already scored 13 points in 13 minutes. He was 5 of 9 from the field and made three of his six 3-point attempts prior to his injury. He scored eight of the Warriors’ 18 points in the first quarter, and five of their first 12 in the second quarter.
The Warriors led 30-20 when Curry exited the game. He was ruled out with a left hamstring strain later in the second quarter.
The Butler Returns
Butler's time in Minnesota was short but memorable, mostly because of drama forcing his way out of town 10 games into his second season with the Timberwolves. He was an All-Star and was named Second Team All-Defensive and Third Team All-NBA in his first year for the Timberwolves. By the sound of the crowd, there is absolutely no love remaining for him in the Twin Cities.
Butler played his first game at the Target Center since November of 2021. He last played for the Timberwolves on Nov. 9, 2019, before being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. Butler received loud boos whenever he touched the ball.
Unsurprisingly, that didn’t deter him one bit.
Butler didn’t go on a scoring tear but was flying all over the court. In the first half, when he only had six points, Butler came down with five offensive rebounds and added two steals. The Warriors will need him to be a scorer in Curry’s absence, but the rest of his game shone bright.
Dominant From Downtown
Despite missing 17 consecutive threes and going 7 of 37 as a team, the Timberwolves were able to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the first round to advance to the conference semifinals. Their victory was largely because of Rudy Gobert's 27 points and 24 rebounds. Gobert wasn’t nearly as effective in Game 1 against the Warriors to open Round 2, and the Timberwolves kept missing from long distance.
Minnesota took eight threes in the first quarter and didn’t make a single one. Another seven tries and another seven misses in the second quarter brought the Timberwolves to a wild 0 of 15 on 3-pointers in the first half. Meanwhile, as the Warriors led 44-31 at halftime, they were nine of 20 on threes – a 27-point advantage. Curry was responsible for three of those treys, but other Warriors were cashing in as well.
Most notably, Curry’s longest teammate. Butler made one three in the first half, as did Brandin Podziemski. Green, however, had already made four.
The Timberwolves missed their first try behind the 3-point line in the third quarter, and Naz Reid finally snapped the streak on their 17th attempt of the night. Going back to the Timberwolves’ previous game, Edwards missed 14 consecutive threes before making one with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.