SAN FRANCISCO — Even with Stephen Curry sidelined and Draymond Inexperienced in foul bother, the Golden State Warriors have been forward by 5 factors within the fourth quarter and felt they’d each probability to seize a collection lead in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves at residence.
Till Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle took over for the Timberwolves in crunch time.
Edwards hit a baseline 3-pointer with 1:19 remaining and scored 36 factors, Randle had 24 factors, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, and the Wolves beat the Warriors 102-97 on Saturday night time for a 2-1 lead of their second-round playoff collection.
Jimmy Butler had 33 factors, seven assists and 7 rebounds and Jonathan Kuminga scored 30 off the bench, however the Warriors nonetheless lacked the type of rhythm they’ve with Curry on the ground.
“Clearly with Steph on the market, he calls for two to a few our bodies when he’s on the market on the ground,” Butler mentioned. “When he’s not, there’s no room for error. You’ll be able to’t make errors. You’ll be able to’t flip the ball over. You’ll be able to’t give again all of these issues. And then you definately’ve obtained to take the correct pictures.”
Kuminga shot 11 for 18 because the Warriors once more combined and matched whereas enjoying with out Curry as he nurses a strained left hamstring that he injured early in Recreation 1 on Tuesday.
Recreation 4 is Monday night time at Chase Heart.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr burdened his staff needed to win with defence — and his staff could not make the important thing stops down the stretch.
Edwards, who confirmed no indicators of being hampered after spraining his left ankle within the second quarter of Recreation 2, knocked down a go-ahead 3-pointer with 6:16 remaining, whereas Jaden McDaniels made one other key 3 with 3:20 to play.
Randle started 1 for six and missed his preliminary 4 3-point tries earlier than connecting 6:30 earlier than halftime to place Minnesota up 39-29 and pressure a Warriors timeout. He shot 10 for 23.
“We want all of it. We would have liked every little thing from Julius, his hustle performs,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch mentioned. “Generally he does an ideal job of simply type of chasing down rebounds and stuff like this. We would have liked all of it.”
Buddy Hield’s 3-pointer with 1:56 left pulled Golden State inside 93-89 then McDaniels threw the ball away moments later however the Warriors have been sloppy.
Golden State missed all 5 of its 3-point tries within the first half however nonetheless led 42-40, then Hield discovered some rhythm and scored 14 second-half factors.
Draymond Inexperienced fouled out with 4:38 to play, whistled for his sixth private attempting to dam a shot by McDaniels that appeared questionable on a number of replay evaluations. Inexperienced sprinted down the ground to the Warriors bench in frustration then pulled on his warmup jacket and stood with fingers on hips.
Trayce Jackson-Davis moved into the Warriors’ beginning lineup after he made all six of his area targets and had 15 factors and 6 rebounds in Recreation 2 however performed simply 11 minutes.
