There was a line of thinking that Jimmy Butler didn’t put his foot on the gas in Golden State’s Game 2 loss to the Timberwolves because he was saving up his energy for Game 3 at home, when the Warriors were likely to have their best shot to steal the one win they need in this series to stay afloat until Stephen Curry can potentially get back.
Whether that was an actual plan or Butler was just being his frustratingly passive self in Game 2, it worked pretty much to perfection as Butler came out as aggressive as anyone has seen him in a Golden State uniform, putting 33 points on the board in Game 3.
It wasn’t enough. Minnesota, behind a monster second half from Anthony Edwards and another fantastic playoff showing from Julius Randle, pulled away late for a 102-97 win to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
For the Warriors, it makes Monday’s Game 4 an effective must win. If they go down 3-1 and have to go back to Minnesota for an elimination Game 5 — likely without Curry — the odds of them winning that game, let alone three straight to come back to win the series, will be along the lines of a three-legged horse in the Kentucky Derby.
Problem is, Butler expended a hell of a lot of energy in Game 3. That was a tank-emptier, and he was gassed by the end, as evidenced by his missing multiple layups and failing to score over the final eight minutes. When that dry spell hit, the Warriors, who are disastrously devoid of shot creation outside of Curry and Butler, had nowhere else to go — Jonathan Kuminga’s 30-point night notwithstanding.
Let’s stop here for a second on Kuminga. Dude was incredible. For a young player with this much talent to be yanked out of the rotation and then just pop back in with 48 points through the last two games of this series is remarkable. But you can’t run offense through Kuminga in a must-win playoff game. He has to score in certain matchups, in transition, in the cracks of possessions, all of which he did.
“He was brilliant,” Steve Kerr said of Kuminga. “[He] played one of the best games of his life. It was fantastic to see. You can see how necessary he is in this matchup, especially without Steph. We’re having a tough time getting free, and he’s obviously capable of giving us some points, getting to the rim and I thought he was fantastic. … I’ve just been impressed with the way he’s handled things the last couple weeks [being out of the rotation] and the way he’s stayed ready and put in the work and it paid off tonight.”
Still, Butler is the guy who has to be extraordinary for all the peripheral players who can’t create their own offense to have a chance to meaningfully contribute. He did it on Saturday, and it begs the question: At 35 years old and still not 100% with that pelvic and deep gluteal contusion, can he do it again on Monday? Steve Kerr sounds like he thinks he can.
“We’re right there. We feel great about our chances [in Game 4],” Kerr said. “This is what the playoffs are all about. There’s these emotional swings and momentum shifts and we’ve just got to take tomorrow off and get the guys refreshed, recharged and come back in Monday and tee it up again.”
Kerr is right. One game can feel like the end of the world in the postseason, but a win on Monday would totally flip this series back in Golden State’s favor. But also, what else is Kerr going to say? The simple truth is two games in a row like this from Butler and Kuminga (63 combined points!), in all reality, feels unlikely.
Even if they get those repeat performances, are the Wolves going to cough up 21 turnovers again? Now that Edwards — who rediscovered his dominance with 28 second-half points — is seemingly out of his slump, can the Warriors really continue to not only get enough stops, but also manage to actually punctuate those stops with enough rebounds to beat the Timberwolves with basically — with all due respect to Kuminga — one offensive weapon to which the Wolves actually have to devote disproportionate defensive attention?
Again, that feels unlikely. This was the one the Warriors needed to grab, and it was right there for them. No, the 3-point shooting wasn’t there; the Warriors only managed to take 23 3s and make 10 of them, and they didn’t make a single one in the first half for the first time in the play-by-play era. But they played defense all night, got the Butler game and Kuminga was brilliant. The blueprint was there as they had a chance to push it to a three-possession lead midway through the fourth quarter.
But then came a disastrous Draymond Green stretch.
With 7:11 remaining and the Warriors up five, Green gambled on an entry pass to Julius Randle and gave up a red-carpet dunk, when he had been holding up against Randle all night in straight-up position.
Now the lead was down to three, and on the ensuing possession Green raced the ball up the floor and got way over his skis trying to get downhill in a crowd, had the ball stripped, and Minnesota scored on the other end.
Throw in Gary Payton II’s missed corner 3 and a triple from Edwards on the other end, and in less than one minute of game action the Warriors went from up five to down two.
Less than two minutes later, Green fouled out. Looking back, that was the moment the game was officially over. Golden State’s defense kept them in it all night, but it falls off without Green to nearly the same degree that the offense does without Curry.
You could see it when Green had to sit for the second half of the third quarter and to start of the fourth with four fouls, when a Wolves offense that was struggling for everything all night suddenly started waltzing into half-court layups.
The Warriors took a few last gasps after Green went out, cutting the deficit to four with 1:56 to play on a Buddy Hield 3. When Hield forced a Minnesota turnover on the following possession and the Warriors had the ball back still down four, there was a real chance. They didn’t need a 3-pointer unless it was a good one, but Hield fired up a desperate contested shot that not even Curry would’ve been justified in taking. It never had a chance, and after that neither did the Warriors.
So Golden State moves to Game 4 with the knowledge that they can play right with the Wolves without Curry, but perhaps not with enough physical or mental energy to do it two games in a row. This team is going to compete. There is no doubt about that. And Butler has certainly strung together consecutive blockbuster playoff games before, even when he’s seemingly out of gas. If the Warriors are going to have any chance of evening this series and giving Curry a realistic chance to come back and save the day, he’s going to have to do it again.
