The Wolves shot well and the Warriors did not have the firepower to keep their season alive.
Steph Curry could only watch from the sidelines as the Minnesota Timberwolves ended his 16th NBA season on Wednesday night. The Stephless Golden State Warriors were dominated in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinal matchup, losing 121-110. The Dubs were ahead in the series 1-0 when Curry went down with an injury. They needed to win one of the next four games to give him a chance to return. They simply couldn’t do it.
Both teams started aggressively trying to push the pace. With fewer opportunities to setup in a half-court defense, the Warriors struggled to contain Minnesota. The Wolves showed a lack of focus all game long offensively, racking up 20 turnovers. If they had a cold shooting night, the Dubs might have had a shot, but they were scorching hot from deep.
Jonathan Kuminga once again offered a pivotal offensive spark off the bench, leading the Dubs with 9 first quarter points. Brandin Podziemski made a pair of threes as well. No other Warrior made more than one field-goal in the quarter.
Trailing 30-23, Jimmy Butler III attacked more aggressively early in the second quarter, but did not have his jump shot nor extra step that he had in Game 3. Still, Butler led a brief run aided by forcing some turnovers on the other end. Minnesota struggled with turnovers all night, perhaps the one aspect of their game where focus wavered.
The Warriors briefly pulled within three points, but the wily Mike Conley made back-to-back threes to quickly give the Wolves some breathing room. Whenever the Dubs seemed on the verge of making things interesting, Conley or Julius Randle had an answer to keep Minnesota in the driver’s seat.
With a 62-47 halftime lead, the Wolves pushed themselves ahead by 21 heading into the final quarter. The Warriors had not formally waved the white flag, but they just did not have the firepower to keep up.
Moses Moody sparked a strong Golden State run to start the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to 99-90 with 7:01 left in regulation. However, before anyone got any ideas, Anthony Edwards knocked down a three and Jaden McDaniels forced a steal that turned into an easy basket on the other end. Just like that, the lead was back to 14.
The Warriors smallest silver lining comes from Moody and Podziemski’s strong performances. The two youngsters had fallen into horrendous postseason slumps, and it was a positive sign to see both of them have positive showings. Podz led the Dubs with 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting (4-for-6 from three), 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Moody had 12 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 rebound.
In his worst performance since Curry’s injury, Kuminga needed 22 field-goal attempts to score 24 points and was relatively invisible aside from his attacking. Butler had another solid, but far from enough, performance with 17 points, 6 boards, 6 assists, and 3 steals.
Julius Randle capped off an excellent series with another great performance. Randle had 5 turnovers, but also racked up 29 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists on 13-for-18 shooting. The Wolves had five other players finish in double figures. Edwards finished with 22 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds, 7 turnovers, 3 blocks, and 1 steal.
The Warriors season is over. They finished the regular season 48-34 and won a play-in game against the Grizzlies to secure the 7th-seed in a tightly-contested Western Conference. They won a gnarly seven-game series against the 2-seed Houston Rockets.
Yet, that’s not what Dub Nation will remember. Instead, in a wide open playoffs, Golden State was dominating the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals before Steph Curry suffered a grade 1 hamstring strain. The Wolves took care of business and won four straight games while Curry sat on the sidelines.
Maybe if the Warriors had avoided a lackadaisacal late-season loss to the Spurs, or found a way to beat the Clippers in the last game of the season things would have gone differently. They would have avoided the play-in tournament and faced a weaker Lakers opponent in Round 1.
Or maybe if the Dubs have finished off the Rockets in Game 5 or 6, giving them more rest before the semifinals. Maybe Curry’s 37-year old body would have been able to recover enough to prevent the injury.
For years, the Warriors have been the team leaving other fanbases with what ifs, but they are on the other side of it now. That’s the what-if Golden State has to live with.
Now the Warriors will look to build a roster around Curry next season, presumably starting with Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. Although even their spots might not be guaranteed if a big enough fish becomes available. Still, the most obvious question surrounds Kuminga’s future. A restricted free agent, Kuminga is under the Warriors control. Is Golden State interested in making a nine-figure commitment to the young wing or will they find a partner to make a sign-and-trade?