The Warriors’ win on Tuesday wasn’t just a show of strength in numbers.
No, the Warriors’ Game 1 victory was shock and awe.
When Steph Curry left the opening matchup of the Warriors’ Western Conference Semifinal series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State had a five-point lead with 33 minutes to play.
So how did they lead by as many as 23 points and never see the margin get within eight, even as Minnesota made a furious fourth-quarter push?
It took everyone and everything.
It was a championship effort with championship heart.
But make no mistake about who authored it.
Yes, it was the players on the court. Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green; Buddy Hield and Gary Payton II; Pat Spencer and Kevon Looney. The Warriors rolled deep on Tuesday.
But the Game 1 win was organizational; the kind of victory you can only credit to a winning culture.
It was a credit to Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
The man has four championship rings as a coach for a reason, and it wasn’t just being in the right place at the right time.
Sure, he might be considered a “hapless rube” by a certain attention-starved, edgelord, venture-capital tweeter, but he turned in a brilliant coaching performance Tuesday.
It wasn’t simply because he went deep into his bench.
No, it was the Dubs’ game plan from the opening tip: attack a Minnesota defense that was ill-prepared to handle the Warriors’ relentless off-ball movement, all while leaving a bad half-court offensive team that lacks a viable point guard to try to navigate through Golden State’s zone defense, with Green running the show in the middle.
Minnesota was at a tactical disadvantage all game. They couldn’t figure out the Dubs, and Kerr’s constant substitutions and adaptations only made matters more difficult for the home team.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) gestures during the first half of Game 1 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)Related Articles
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But do you know anything about Braxton Key? Well, he was on the court for the Warriors at the end of the third quarter.
In all, Kerr played 13 Warriors Tuesday. He played 14 in the Warriors’ Oct. 15 preseason game.
Not all the minutes were created equal. Moses Moody is so deep into a funk he might require an exorcism. Gui Santos’ nearly four minutes were eminently forgettable. Quinten Post played half a quarter, and only had one rebound to speak for it (but was plus-14).
But on a night without their superstar, the Warriors saw winning performances from Buddy Hield, who scored 22 vital second-half points, including a dagger 3, Spencer, a G-League guard whose 10 second-half minutes were a lifeline to the team, Kevon Looney, who spelled Green and kept the Warriors’ defense at the same level, and even Jonathan Kuminga, who for the first time in months looked as if he understood what Kerr and his coaching staff have been begging him to do.
The Warriors didn’t see Curry go down and yell, “Save us, Jimmy.” No, they saved themselves. They were empowered to do so.
And while Curry’s injury has turned this series on its head, so has the Dubs’ Game 1 win.
Golden State Warriors guard Buddy Hield (7) celebrates during the second half of Game 1 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)Related Articles
Jimmy Butler-led Warriors steal Game 1 from Wolves after Curry leaves with injury Warriors’ Buddy Hield has wardrobe malfunction in Game 1 vs. Timberwolves Warriors’ Steph Curry expects ‘bruise-it-out’ series with Timberwolves Kurtenbach: The Warriors face a massive disadvantage, familiar script at start of second round How to watch Warriors-Timberwolves Game 1Curry won’t play in Game 2, and it’d be reckless to suggest that he’ll be back for Game 3 or even 4 at this moment. Word from Minneapolis is that Curry’s limp was anything but minor. He’ll have an MRI on Wednesday.
And while the Warriors have won in the playoffs without Curry before, that was in 2016 and 2018.
These Warriors, impressive as they might look in the Butler era, are not the 73-win Dubs or the league-ruining Warriors of two year later.
That’s why, despite stealing home-court advantage on Tuesday, the Warriors’ odds of winning the series in Las Vegas only went from plus-150 to plus-130. The Timberwolves are still favored. (Under normal circumstances, the Warriors would carry negative odds following that win.)
Curry looked poised to cook the Wolves for 40-plus points in Game 1, as somehow four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert was put in the twilight zone against the Warriors’ high ball screens. Curry had 13 points in 13 minutes played.
But because the Dubs were able to hold on Tuesday, they gave themselves a lifeline.
They can afford to drop Game 2.
And Curry looked so lethal that they can likely afford to have a lesser version of him should he be able to return to this series.
The Warriors have to expect that this is going to be another long, drawn-out series—and that’s the best-case scenario.
It will take some masterful coaching to manage it all the way through.
It’s a good thing the Dubs have a master at the helm.
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