Home court advantage does not mean a thing in the second round of these playoffs. The Golden State Warriors were able to overcome an injury to their best player Stephen Curry in the second quarter, with a Buddy Hield-led cast chipping in to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in their Western Conference semifinals opener in Minneapolis.
Hield scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half of the 99-88 victory Tuesday night at Target Center. Fellow Warriors forward Jimmy Butler was just two assists away from a triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Curry scored 13 points in 13 minutes of play before he departed with a hamstring injury.
“I think we all want No. 30 back, that is for sure, but we want him to do what’s best for himself and best for our group in the long haul,” Butler told reporters after the game.
“Until then, we can hold down the fort. I know we can.”
The Warriors used their feisty confusing zone defense to hold Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards to just a single point in the first half and led by as many as 23 points. They held a 51-41 edge in rebounding, knocked down 18 3-pointers and forced 16 giveaways. The Timberwolves went a dismal 5 of 29 from beyond the arc, including a 0 for 15 clip in the first half.
Game 1 was tied three times and featured four lead changes, including three over the first 12 minutes. The Timberwolves missed their first 16 attempts from distance, which is uncharacteristic for them, but still carried a 20-18 lead into the second quarter.
Center Draymond Green engineered a 15-0 Warriors run over the next four minutes. The Warriors outscored the Timberwolves 26-11 in the frame and led 44-31 at the break. Green scored 14 points in the second quarter. Curry left the game about four minutes into the quarter after hitting a jump shot and clutching his left leg.
Embed from Getty ImagesCoach Steve Kerr later called the superstar guard “day-to-day.” He will get an MRI on Wednesday to determine the severity of his injury and a potential timeline for return.
“He’s obviously crushed, but the guys picked him up and played a great game,” Kerr said, when asked about Curry. “Obviously, we are all concerned about Steph, but it’s part of the game. Guys get hurt and you move on.”
Hield would go on to pour in 16 points in the third quarter, when the Warriors held a 36-29 scoring advantage. They used a 12-2 surge to push their advantage to 76-53 with 2:23 remaining in the quarter and carried an 80-60 lead into the fourth.
Edwards showed signs of life, scoring 13 points over the final 12 minutes, when the Timberwolves outshot the Warriors 45% to 27.3%. But the Timberwolves could not overcome the large deficit.
Edwards, who went 0 for 8 in the first half, hit 9 of 14 shots in the second to finish with 23 points. He also chipped in 14 rebounds in the loss. Big man Naz Reid scored 19 points off the Timberwolves bench.
Green did a little bit of everything, totaling 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Warriors.
“It was beautiful to see,” Green said. “Everybody who came into the game gave us something.”
Kerr said the Warriors are “game planning for Curry to “not be available” in Game 2. The sixth-seeded Timberwolves (0-1) will host the No. 7 Warriors at 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday in Minneapolis.
