The Golden State Warriors dropped Game 2 of their second-round clash against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
After stealing Game 1, the Dubs took a major blow as the Minnesota Timberwolves retaliated with urgency, pounding them with a 117-93 blowout loss to tie the seven-game series at 1-1.
From the jump, the T-Wolves furiously attacked and made the most of Stephen Curry’s absence. The Warriors superstar is slated to remain inactive for a significant time with a left hamstring strain.
Minnesota collectively shot a sizzling 50.6 percent from the field and drained 43.2 percent of their three-point shots to overwhelm the Warriors. Julius Randle led the way as his aggressive bully ball propelled the Wolves again with a game-high 24 points and 11 assists.
The Target Center crowd held its collective breath after Anthony Edwards went down with an ankle injury, but the Timberwolves sensation made an epic return and still finished with 20 points, nine boards, five assists, and three steals across 34 minutes.
Severely missing the presence and firepower of Curry, the Warriors instantly encountered troubles without the showrunner of their system.
Buddy Hield, the Warriors’ Game 1 hero upon Curry’s injury exit, tallied 15 points but was highly inconsistent with 5-14 shooting.
Regarded as the temporary replacement for Curry, Pat Spencer struggled off the bench with a 14-minute scoreless outing.
Left without a choice, Steve Kerr shuffled everything on his deck and applied an unusual move, playing 14 players throughout Game 2. This had not happened in the postseason since 1998.
“I think part of the game plan coming in was to play a lot of people, and we did,” Kerr said in postgame.
“I think we played 13 or 14 people in the first half. Part of the reasoning is, obviously, the fatigue from the run we’ve been on with all the travel and the games, but part of it also is we have to figure out what we’re going to be able to do in this series without Steph.
“So we gave a lot of people a lot of chances, and some guys really stepped up.”
Assessing his words, it appears that this Game 2 was simply an experimental one for Kerr about how they will pursue the rest of the series against Minnesota with Curry unavailable for an indefinite timeline.
Kerr’s maximized rotation offered plenty of optimism. After being buried for most of the postseason, Jonathan Kuminga showed off with 18 points in 26 minutes. Meanwhile, Trayce Jackson-Davis also performed tremendously off the bench, registering 15 points and six boards for 19 minutes.
As Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green take the lead for Golden State with Curry recovering, Kerr desires to preserve them healthy as well in this challenging series against the Timberwolves.
“I didn’t want to push it with Draymond or Jimmy. I didn’t want to chase this game unless it was really gettable,” Kerr argued.
“We obviously made a push in the second half, but in the first half, we went into the game thinking we’re playing a lot of people, short-burst minutes, and trying to protect Jimmy and Draymond.
“They’ve been playing huge minutes every other day, flying all over the country. So we had to weigh that.”
With this intriguing adjustment made by Kerr, we can only wait and see if this will spark the Warriors as the series shifts to the Bay Area. Game 3 is on May 10.
