San Francisco – Faced with a deficit of 2-1 after abandoning match 3 of their series of second round against the Timberwolves on Saturday evening, the Warriors spoke with a shade of regret when they had a sense of what was wrong.
Jimmy Butler, who flashed “Playoff Jimmy” vintage by scoring 30 points, spoke in a low voice while looking at the box of the box which said “Minnesota 102, Golden State 97” of the post-match podium.
“I did not get the blows we wanted to obtain, returned the ball a few times, did not dispute shots, did not withdraw the three from the game, and that was all”, in Monoton Butler.
After being relatively silent in matches 1 and 2 of this series of semi-final of the Western Conference, he had become the hero of the playoffs that the Warriors had been promised when they exchanged for Butler in February.
He pulled nearly 30 shots, playing the role of lead to the ball brand while Steph Curry was chained to the touch with a tension in the left hamstrings and doing everything he could so that the Warriors victory in 43 minutes.
It was not enough.
“Twenty-six shots, 36 shots, next time, he must be in a victory,” said Butler.
The disappointment has permeated the Warriors changing rooms, but despair was not found.
“There is no need to panic,” said goalkeeper Gary Payton II to Bay Area News Group while unchaining his shoes to his locker. “We will be fine.”
As a team with veteran leaders like Butler and Draymond Green, the players seemed certain that they could stay in the series despite Curry’s injury.
“We can compete without Steph,” said Butler. “We are still as confident as ever.”
Confident or not, the loss is always stung.
The Warriors overcome their shot by 0 for 5 at a distance of 3 points and led 42-40 at halftime in a match where the lack of curry shooting was obvious.
After 36 minutes, the Warriors led 73-69 after Hield and the team shooters went 6 for 11 long-range in the third period.
An improbable series advance was there for the catch, and the Warriors knew it.
“We had the match ahead of us,” said the normally optimistic Hield.
His mind wandered to a fourth quarter in which the Warriors led 82-77 with eight minutes to play after Butler made a pair of free throws.
The advance has disappeared in a 9-0 minnesota race which saw Anthony Edwards scoring five points, including a big dunk which was two of the most categorical of its 36-point summit.
Coach Steve Kerr reduced his team’s inability to grasp bullets, which tormented the Warriors for a month. An offensive rebound of the Mike Conley veteran at the beginning of the fourth, which led to a pointer of 3 points Naz Reid and kept the deficit just five, stood out in Kerr’s mind.
“I thought it was the sequence that really changed the game and the momentum,” said Kerr. “Thirteen offensive boards for them, 26 points.
Green fouling in the fourth quarter did not help the cause of the Warriors. Two of his faults came from rereading and sixth criticism while contesting a shot on the edge.
It was a difficult development during a trying week for the veteran striker, who was the subject of racial violence of two spectators in Minneapolis in match 2.
“The sixth was difficult,” Kerr said. “It didn’t feel very good while looking at the replay, but that’s what it is and they surpassing us in the fourth and they deserved to win.”
The collapse of the fourth quarter overshadowed what was an evening of career for the 22 -year -old striker Jonathan Kuminga, who went from the rotation to score 33 points on only 18 shots.
Whether Kuminga led for dunks, making difficult lay-ups or buried at 3 points, the Wolves had no answer for the fourth year attacker who said that his ankle was starting to feel healthy. The injury missed Kuminga 31 games in the middle of the season.
Kuminga credited Butler to have helped him prosper, even if Butler’s presence was a great reason why the role of Kuminga was reduced.
“It’s a bit easy,” said Kuminga. “It’s just the same way as Steph … You have another player with Jimmy, and these are two different people, but they are cautious, you just have to be alert when they have the ball.”
Kuminga and Hield were the only players who seemed to know how to play with Butler in attack during the match on Saturday. The other five warriors who played combined for only 20 points on 26 shots.
The Warriors will need another big Kuminga match – and a rebound game of 1 per 10 pulling on Brandin Podziemski – on the series. They have a day of rest to understand what to do well.
To face a possible deficit of 3-1 will not take this preparation into account.
“I’m not going to tell my guys to be desperate or more urgent than anything,” said Butler. “You go there and you play basketball and hoop.”
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