San Francisco – Everything was in place for a gravelly and improbable victory for the playoff series on Minnesota at the Chase Center on Saturday evening.
With Steph Curry looking at the key line with a left ischio-leg Gimpy who will probably keep him away from to at least one potential match 6, Jimmy Butler scored 33 points and released a vintage control game that adapts to his coat “Playoff Jimmy”.
Jonathan Kuminga won over with 30 points, using his overwhelming athletics to play the perfect complement to his veteran teammate.
But it was not enough.
The Wolves superstar, Anthony Edwards, scored 28 of his 36 points in the second half and Julius Randle has undergone a triple double of 24 points to give the Warriors a heartbreaking loss of 102-97 which put Golden State in a hole in the 2-1 series while returning to home in Minnesota in the semi-sei-nine series of the Western conference in the Western.
“We can compete without Steph. We are still as confident as ever,” said Butler. “We are going to return to the film and the drawing boards and understand it, and come back here on Monday and bring this thing to 2-2.”
After having been the subject of racly abusive heckling in match 2, Draymond Green dirty 4:38 to play. He collected two points, two rebounds, four assists and five reversals, but the defense of the Warriors collapsed without him.
The Warriors led in the fourth quarter, but saw their thin advance evaporate with a race of 17-7 Wolves to start the period. Without curry and green on the section, Butler and Kuminga of Kuminga were wasted.
The absence of curry was felt early, when Golden State attempted only one 3 -point pointer in the first quarter.
After another slow start in the second quarter, when he took up to the brand at 5:44 am from the frame to reach two-digit points, the Warriors made a sequence of 13-1 to take a 42-40 advance with 41 seconds remaining before half-time.
The Timberwolves did not succeed in the field in the last 6 1/2 minutes of half-time.
Kuminga managed to explode on the rim when the ball is given with space, marking 12 in half-time and giving the Warriors an advantage of two points at halftime despite the lack of their five attempts of 3 points.
The Warriors were 6 out of 11 from a distance in the third quarter, with Buddy Hield by doing three to complete the butler and Kuminga training on the edge while Golden State led 73-69 after three quarters.
“Notation is never the problem,” said Butler. “I think that 97 can gain in the playoffs. It is we at the other end. We must prevent them from scoring. We must not return the ball. We must come back. I really think that we can score with the best of them, but we must be able to keep the best of them too.”
Golden State will even turn on the series of match 4 at the Chase Center on Monday.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
