The task facing the Warriors now is to prove their Western Conference semifinal Game 1 performance is not who they were for one night but who they will be for the rest of the NBA playoffs.
It’s an exceedingly difficult challenge made essential by the absence of Stephen Curry.
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WATCH HEREGolden State’s 99-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night was profoundly inelegant yet sublime. The Warriors shot like a gang of drunken bandits, committed more turnovers than their opponent and lost Curry in the second quarter to a strained hamstring.
“We're all concerned about Steph,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters at Target Center. “But it's part of the game. Guys get hurt and you move on. Our guys did a great job of moving on and getting a great win 48 hours after a Game 7 road win. It's an amazing group of guys. These guys are there. They compete. They're together.
The Warriors won Game 1 by diving into the grime game, and those elements will be necessary for them to have a chance to win this Western Conference semifinals series and any other they might encounter.
They played both ends with enough grit to clog three drains, played defense with an attitude and displayed the resilience of a pack of junkyard dogs, with Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler III leading the way.
“We flew around,” Green said. “We made extra efforts, which was important. We know they’re a very, very good 3-point shooting team, and we knew that we didn't want to give them uncontested looks. If they get started on 3s, they can roll.”
Golden State Warriors
There was no rolling by the Timberwolves, who were limited to 31 points in the first half. They shot 39.5 percent from the field, including 17.2 percent – 17.2 percent – from deep. They were so bamboozled by the relentless energy surrounding them that they missed a surprising number of open looks.
The Warriors walked out of Target Center having seized the homecourt advantage not because they played superbly but because they played hard.
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SIGN UP After producing 20 points, a team-high 11 rebounds, eight assists and two steals over 41 minutes, Butler walked off the court like a man who wouldn’t mind swapping out his hips, legs and feet for new ones. Hield chased Anthony Edwards and scored a game-high 24 points – 22 in the second half – over 40 minutes. Green finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals over 35 minutes.
Which brings us to what the Warriors will need for a long as Curry, who will miss Game 2, is sidelined: More efficiency from their youngsters.
Brandin Podziemski would like to forget his 1-of-7 shooting and back-to-back turnovers in the second quarter. Moses Moody took four shots, missing them all, in four first-quarter minutes and didn’t play much afterward. Jonathan Kuminga played 13 minutes off the bench, scoring seven points but committing two turnovers. All three finished on the ugly side of the plus/minus equation.
Kerr was forced to lean into his depth – 12 players in all – which was barely good enough because each reserve brought a certain velocity.
“Every single guy who came off the bench contributed,” Kerr said. “I never really look at the stats after a playoff game. I just think about how guys competed. And I thought that was every guy who came off the bench.”
The defense was crucial, but this was a triumph of effort over excellence.
And the intensity picked up after Curry, who scored 13 points in 13 minutes, limped off the court with 8:19 left in the second quarter.
“You have to understand what it takes to win a game without your best player, and tonight was a good indication of that,” Kerr said. “Draymond and Loon (Kevon Looney) and Jimmy led the way, just with the leadership on the sidelines, talking to the guys, recognizing you battle for every loose ball, every rebound. We got 18 offensive rebounds. We outrebounded them, 51-41, and their guys are all six inches taller than our guys.
“It's about the intensity. The heart. The fight. And if you do that, and you give yourself a chance.”
Though the youngsters, whether starting or coming off the bench, will have to be better in Game 2 and beyond, the Warriors would be best served by keeping everything else where it was in Game 1.
Right around 100.
