The No. 6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves are hosting the No. 7 seed Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals. Just the way everyone drew it up before the season began. Okay, maybe not so much. Nonetheless, the fierce series has begun.
Many narratives began to take shape entering Game 1, including Golden State’s “last dance” aspect and their championship dynasty’s “experience vs. youth” dynamic.
After the 99-88 loss, the “rust vs. rest” theme following Minnesota’s week off seemed to be the most noticeable. Minnesota looked out of sync in every aspect of the game, from transition offense to rebounding, and they had a disastrous and uncharacteristic 3-point shooting performance.
“Poor spacing, our rhythm, didn’t make the next pass a lot of the time, really poor in transition,” said Chris Finch after Game 1. “I think that’s where we cost ourselves the chance to stay in the game early.
“We had opportunities to run out, and our transition decision-making was diabolical. You know, obviously we couldn’t hit a shot, but I didn’t like the fact we couldn’t repeatedly generate good shots, and we should’ve been able to.”
It’s undeniable that Ant’s energy alone can take the Timberwolves as high as possible most nights. Unfortunately, it goes both ways. When Edwards’ flow is off, it seems to have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the Timberwolves, and Finch is very aware of it.
“I absolutely saw that, you know, and you can’t have that,” added Finch on Edwards’ off night. “It starts with Ant. I thought he struggled early, and then you can see the light go off a little bit for a while.
“Obviously, we tried to get him going in the second half, but I think it was one of those games where he had a predetermined mindset of what he was trying to do, rather than just playing the game that was in front of him.”
The Timberwolves were 0 for 15 from downtown in the first half and finished 5 for 29. January 2018 was the last time Minnesota didn’t make a 3 in a half. In that time, you could be a practicing lawyer or have almost graduated from medical school.
Edwards finished with a team-high 23 points, but only two assists. Julius Randle (18 points), Naz Reid (19 points), and Jaden McDaniels (12 points) all finished in double-digit scoring, but not much offense elsewhere.
“Yeah, I mean I think we just didn’t play well, to be honest, like we were still up two at the end of the first quarter and just had a bad stretch in the second quarter, and I just think overall offensively we just didn’t play well,” said Randle.
“We still held them to under 100 points, they shot 39% from the floor, and we still had some defensive miscues that we can clean up obviously; we just didn’t play well. They made 18 3s, we made five… they had 51 rebounds, we had 41. It’s things in our control that we can do to play better, and we just have to do it.”
Stephen Curry left the game in the first half with a hamstring issue. However, it didn’t matter. The veteran-led Warriors continued to play as if they were not missing their NBA superstar.
In the opening minutes of Game 1, Buddy Hield made an NBA playoff game look like a church league game by wearing mismatched shorts, but that was about the only thing he did wrong in Game 1. He finished with a game-high 24 points, 16 of which came in the third quarter.
Old friend Jimmy Butler managed to score 20 points, grab 11 rebounds, and dish out eight assists despite the Target Center crowd booing him. If you had Draymond Green scoring 18 points on your bingo card, congratulations!
“Robin (Butler) turned into Batman, Alfred (Hield) turned into Robin,” Green said regarding Golden State’s play after Curry exited with an injury, “and they just filled in so it was beautiful to see.”
Believe it or not, there were positive moments in Game 1, and the series is far from over. The Wolves fought back in the fourth quarter and cut a 20-point deficit to nine points twice. Edwards, Randle, and Reid finished strong, and the Wolves have a strong defensive foundation.
“When you lose a game, it’s always somebody got this, somebody got that. This is the reason you lost,” said an unworried Edwards. “I don’t really look at all that. I just look at every last one of us has got to play better individually, including myself, and see how it goes.”
