Buddy Hield and Draymond Green delivered from three-point range with Stephen Curry suddenly sidelined by a hamstring strain, and Jimmy Butler gave the Warriors a vintage all-around performance in an inspired 99-88 victory over the stumbling Timberwolves that opened the second-round series on Tuesday night.
“It was beautiful to see,” Green said. “Everybody who came into the game gave us something.”
Minnesota’s coach, Chris Finch, was not quite as happy, and zeroed in on the team’s star, Anthony Edwards, who he believed did not put in his full effort as the team fell behind.
“What is there to talk about? You [Edwards] are the leader of the team,” Finch said after the game. “You’ve got to come out and set the tone. If your shot is not going, you still have to carry the energy. If I’ve got to talk to guys about having the right energy coming into an opening second-round game, then we’re not on the same page.”
Edwards said he believed he had played well on defense in the game, but accepted he had fallen short of his high standards overall. “People are going to try to blame whatever, blame whoever; they can blame me,” Edwards said. “[But] we just didn’t play good enough.”
Hield picked up where he left off in the Game 7 win at Houston in the previous round by scoring 24 points on 5-for-8 shooting from three-point range. Butler had 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists and Green had four first-half threes on his way to 18 points, as the Warriors used 12 players, plenty of hustle and lockdown defense to overcome the concerning departure of the franchise cornerstone Curry.
“It’s about the intensity and the heart and the fight, and if you do that, you give yourself a chance,” coach Steve Kerr said.
The home teams have yet to win in the second round of these NBA playoffs. Minnesota have another chance to get one in Game 2 on Thursday.
The big question: will Curry will be available? The four-time NBA champion exited early in the second quarter after hitting a 14-footer and grabbing the back of his left leg. The Warriors ruled him out for the remainder of the game soon after that.
Kerr frequently sent a zone defense at a Wolves team that went 7 for 47 from three-point range in their series clinching win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, and the bricks piled up even higher after nearly a week off. The Wolves missed their first 16 shots from three-point range until they were down by 20 and Naz Reid drained one from the wing with 8:32 left in the third quarter.
Edwards had 23 points and 14 rebounds after the rough start, finishing 9 for 22 from the floor. Reid had 19 points and Julius Randle added 16 points for the Wolves, who finished 5 for 29 from behind the arc and trailed by 23 points late in the third.
“We had opportunities to run out. Our transition decision making was diabolical,” Finch said. “Obviously we couldn’t hit a shot, but I didn’t like the fact that we couldn’t repeatedly generate good shots. We should’ve been able to.”
In Tuesday’s other game, Tyrese Haliburton made a three-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining and the Indiana Pacers scored the final eight points in 47.9 seconds to stun the short-handed and top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers 120-119 to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semi-finals series.
Haliburton scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 12 minutes. After Andrew Nembhard stole an inbounds pass by Cleveland’s Max Strus with 27.5 seconds remaining, Indiana tried to find a potential tying three-pointer before Haliburton drove inside and got fouled. He made the first free throw, but missed the second. Haliburton got the offensive rebound and dribbled out to the three-point line, where he made it from the top of the key.
Donovan Mitchell scored 48 points for Cleveland, who were missing three key players, including two starters. NBA Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley and key reserve De’Andre Hunter were injured in Game 1, while Darius Garland missed his fourth straight postseason game.
