Could a premier dynasty be on its last leg?
Emerging superstar Anthony Edwards scored 30 points for his second consecutive 30-point performance, Julius Randle put up 31 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Golden State Warriors on the road 117-110 on Monday night for a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.
Now, it is time to get on the plane back home to the ‘Twin Cities’, Minneapolis for the Timberwolves with a chance to close out the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
The Warriors will still be without Stephen Curry, who was sidelined for his third game in a row and is scheduled to have his strained left hamstring re-evaluated that day.
“We’re not going to Superman this thing,” Draymond Green said. “If he’s in a place where he can play, I’m sure he will.”
With ice water in his veins, Edwards sank back-to-back 3-pointers and scored 11 total points in a game-changing 17-0 Timberwolves run that put them ahead 85-68 late in the third. They led by 20, 97-77, going into the fourth and the Warriors could not catch up.
Embed from Getty ImagesEdwards, coming off a 36-point performance in a Game 3 on Saturday, hit a 30-foot heave to beat the halftime buzzer and pull Minnesota within two, 60-58 at the break. And the Timberwolves carried the momentum and delivered the knockout punch in the second half again after also trailing by two points, 42-40, at halftime in a 102-97 victory in Game 3.
Edwards, who is only 23, also took a leadership role and spoke up to his team at halftime and Chris Finch credited that pep talk for setting the tone ahead of an impressive second half.
“At halftime, Coach came in and said we’re playing like we already won the series pretty much, I don’t really like that,” Edwards said, adding, “I told them we’ve only got two wins.”
Staying close at halftime was key.
“It was huge because it felt like one of those games where we were going to struggle to find a rhythm,” Finch said. “I thought we might be down eight, 10 at halftime with the way that we had played. Fortunately, I thought his shot made it pretty much an even game and if we came out with the type of purpose that we needed to I felt we were going to be OK.”
Jonathan Kuminga came off the bench, delivering a spark to score 23 points and convert 11 of 12 free throws for the Warriors, following up his 30-point outing in Game 3 with another gem.
Jaden McDaniels had a double-double 10 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota.
Buddy Hield went down briefly with just over four minutes remaining in the second quarter after McDaniels grabbed at the guard’s neck and pulled the back of his jersey. The play went to replay review as fans chanted in unison, “You can’t do that!” but was deemed a common foul rather than a flagrant foul, Penalty 1.
The Warriors have now dropped three in a row since Curry hurt his leg early in Game 1 last Tuesday night. If all is healing well, the soonest he might play would be in a possible Game 6 back at Chase Center on Sunday.
The Warriors were slow getting their offense and 3-point shooting started in a 102-97 loss Saturday, and it was much of the same this game.
Jimmy Butler, who was brought in for exactly these types of moments, and Green scored 14 points apiece and Hield 13. Kerr stuck with Kuminga coming off the bench and Trayce Jackson-Davis in the starting lineup for his size.
Even without Curry on the floor, Minnesota coach Finch’s defensive game plan focused on keeping the Warriors from their signature 3-point flurries, and Golden State wound up 8 of 27 from deep.
