The Warriors are teetering on the brink of elimination heading into tonight’s Game 5 at Minnesota, but they haven’t lost confidence that they can rally and take the series, writes Ann Killion of The San Francisco Chronicle. Golden State won the opener, but the tone of the series shifted when Stephen Curry suffered a Grade 1 left hamstring strain after playing just 13 minutes. The Warriors haven’t looked the same without their star guard to stretch Minnesota’s defense, dropping three straight games, including two in a row at Chase Center.
“Win one game, take it from there,” Draymond Green said after Monday’s loss. “That’s our mindset. You win one and everything changes.”
Coach Steve Kerr has been juggling his rotations throughout the playoffs amid inconsistent performances from his role players. Killion notes that Brandin Podziemski has been struggling with his shot, going 3-of-14 from the field in Game 4 while missing all four of his three-point attempts, while Buddy Hield committed four turnovers and made just two three-pointers.
“We have belief, we have faith,” Kevon Looney said. “We’ll take it possession by possession, quarter by quarter. We’ve got to put together a full game, not just 40 good minutes of basketball.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Jimmy Butler was under the weather in Game 4, when he took only nine shots and finished at a game-worst minus-30, Killion adds. In a session with the media before tonight’s contest, Kerr said Butler has recovered from his illness and is now feeling good, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link).
- The team announced Tuesday that Curry wouldn’t be available for Game 5, but Kerr told reporters tonight that there’s still hope for Sunday’s Game 6 if Golden State can extend the series, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). “It’s a possibility he could play,” Kerr said. Curry will be reevaluated on Saturday to determine how much progress he has made.
- With Curry on the sidelines and several of his shooters mired in slumps, Kerr admits that the Warriors haven’t been able to use the three-pointer as a weapon as much as they would like to, Slater writes in a full story. “The series changed with Steph’s injury,” Kerr said. “So everybody’s shots are going to be more difficult. Steph’s a guy who breaks the defense down for us and creates that offensive flow. I think the result is that shots are more difficult for every single guy.”
Huge win by the Celtics tonight to extend the series. Can the Warriors follow suit?
LET’S GO !!!!!
Jimmy Butler is Robin, not Batman.
Batman has an owie…, Robin needs to step up and fill the role.
Tonight Jimmy drives the Batmobile.
lol…
Jimmy didn’t get far did he?
Be nice if he checked the gas tank before he took the wheel.
Might be time to take his license because he’s getting too old. Same thing happened to my grandpa lol
What a surprise… lol
Podz is hurting this team and isn’t a long term NBA starter. He dribbles too much. He’s not a PG, he’s not a SG. He can’t replace Curry and shouldn’t try to. Moody is also a detriment thus far. No matter what happens tonight or the rest of the series. Podz and or Moody, if not both need to go this off season.
Who can play “D?”
Podz isn’t going anywhere. You’d be selling way to low. You have to wait until he gets his rookie scale extension. That is when you will get real value. Before that, it would be a terrible trade.
I really want to see Kuminga be the primary defender on AE. I want to see that ……
Only player on the warriors that can hit 3s is Curry and he is hurt. MD needs to get a new bench with shooters and get rid of all these bad shooters.
Hield..??
Buddy is Klay Thompson but at half the price. He’ll go 4–10 and you’re smiling but then he’ll go 1-5 way too often.
Oh well, atleast your best player is coming back next season.
Not bad for a team you said wouldn’t even make the playin. Got anymore scouting and prognostication gems?
Damn you gave up on them already? Still plenty of game left.
Lucky to make the playoffs is what was said. Hello, playin. More gems ok. Warriors are 100% done. Windows closed, enjoy.
Tell us all again how Steve Kerr made Ant Edwards lol.
Here is what Edwards said…
“Me and my trainer riding home after dinner and we’re just talking like we got to pick it up,” Edwards said. “I don’t know how, I don’t know what we got to do. But we got to pick it up. After that. I became a madman at the gym.”
…Do you think he became a star by just sitting on his butt? Sounds like Kerr motivated him to change his work ethic.
Lol. All this from one workout with a team who was 100% not a chance of drafting him, interesting. Madman at the gym? Not what I seen on that starting 5 series. I seen an immature young man who has gotten to where he is off freakish talent. Hard work and diet lacking. Im claiming Boston made Tim Duncan, I’m sure he worked out for them.
So, you are saying that he is lying about what happened after his two work outs? Why would he lie.
I’m not claiming Anthony Edwards. Michael Owlakandi had freakish talent. But, he had no work ethic. He became the biggest bust in NBA history.
No, I’m laughing at you thinking said two workouts turned Edwards into what he is now. You’re trying to polish a turd and turn everything into a positive Warriors narrative. Kinda like Davey who? Lol.
Oh Sparky, I guess you didn’t notice. The Warriors lost the series. And Ant led the way. Doesn’t sound like a positive Warriors narrative to me. I think that is called…Irony.
It is not uncommon for one-time encounters to change people’s lives. Why don’t you believe what he said?
Oh, by way, Davey hates Kerr. Probably more than you realize. But, Davey is now gone.
Still, made it further then you said. I’m looking forward to another playoff run next season.
Have said it time and again, Jimmy is not a natural scorer.
He’s a complimentary superstar, if there’s such a thing. He works best free-roaming on offense (and defense) surrounded with other scorers, shooters.
No surprise if Jimmy will try to look for his joy again, this offseason.
He’s a diva who thinks he can be top dog on a title winning team…
The reality is he’s a good third star… would work much better in place of Beal at the Suns…
What is a “natural scorer”? Seems like he found his joy. When did he lose it?
^ Natural scorer, one who actively looks for his shots and makes a decent percentage of them.
If this partial season and a 17 point elimination game didn’t show GSW fans that Jimmy’s passiveness is a real thing, a full next season will.
Apparently, $60M a year won’t get you Batman these days ………. you get a Robin who won’t even step up, when Batman’s injured.
What do you consider is a decent percentage of made shots? Steph Curry was quite happy with what Butler was shooting. Jimmy made his life easier. The Warriors won-loss record reflected that. Podz and Hield’s shooting slump was a bigger reason for the Warriors getting eliminated.
Everything’s fine and workable as long as Steph is there – simply put, he’s among the greats.
But when Steph goes down, it’s only logical to expect a 60M player to step up right.
This isn’t a new thing, everyone was calling Jimmy out prior to Game 3 ……. Jimmy had tons of these kinds of passive games with the HEAT as well.
Seriously, you really believe that things were fine and workable before the Butler trade? Umm…That is a definite NO. They were looking like a lottery team with each passing game. It was spiraling out of control. Curry needed help. The rest of the team needed to step up. Curry said so before the season started. You can’t rely on one player for all your offense. It is to easy to defend.
What I obviously mean, was post-trade …….. Jimmy being a complimentary star, works since Steph attracts so much gravity.
I repeat once more, when your main star goes down, wouldn’t it be logical or even obvious that the next perceived star, one who makes 60M annually, be relied upon to take the lead and go the extra mile??
Indeed, some others didn’t fare well, heck Hield could have made more, but everyone knows what his capabilities are by this time …… but he’s not the one most folks will expect to take the lead, Jimmy is.
Heck, if 17/6/6 on an elimination game at that salary, is fine with some folks, then their bar is so low.
By your logic, Curry shouldn’t be making $62 million. The Warriors struggled with him. Teams were double and triple teaming Curry.
Without Curry, Teams could focus on Butler.
I don’t think it’s his passiveness Mike.
How about giving Minnesota Timberwolves credit for great defense.
They’re a little longer and more athletic than the Warriors.
Jimmy’s strength is going to the hole and kicking to shooters or doing the mid range shot. None of that happened in this series. Great coaching took that away from the Warriors.
Rudy Gobert and his length is a real thing, I thought you knew that? McDaniels and his length is a real thing at small forward. Everyone can see that.
Timberwolves roster is just better than the Warriors roster right now. But naysayers forget that Just a month ago Jimmy was rolling and the Warriors Went from not making the playoffs to top four in the west.
I’m happy with that considering where we were at the trade deadline, that’s lost, no direction, and on the verge of being a lottery team.
Go Wolves !!
^ It’s Jimmy being passive …….. plain and simple.
D.Wade, Jay Williams, Stephen A, etc saying as much, the day after.
20 total shots in 2 games. That’s passive, not stepping up.
This is not a new thing though, Jimmy had a ton of these kinds of games during his HEAT stint.
Yeet…
Well it was fun while it lasted. We have some serious work to do with this roster.
2 giant holes on the salary cap…
Gonna be an interesting shuffle of the deck no matter what…
Sadly, the Warriors lost. But, there is still joy in Mudville. Davey said he would go away. Translation: A new alias and a new team to terrorize. OKC is probably up next.
Hahaha!!! I wonder which accounts are his already
He’s a ring chaser. Let the detective work begin.
Where do GSW go from here? Kuminga is an FA and kerr does not trust him, maybe they’ll trade him?
But to which team who would think he is a good piece…
A sign and trade for Kuminga isn’t going to bring much back.
Kinda depends on what kind of offers he gets.
Kuminga is a RFA. Kerr trusts him.
When talking about trust, it does not equate with DNPs.
Unless that player is injured/not available….
@ Kowalski. The lottery, possibly for many many years.
Nrg82 you know that’s a false statement and has no place in reality.
Moneybags Joe Lacob will spend his way to relevance.
If the Warriors do have a down year after next, Lacob doesn’t take to losing very well. They have a good young GM and the Warriors will be near the top more often than they’re not. The owner doesn’t need the franchise money for his lifestyle.., he can pour any profits back into the team.
Those are facts and the drive-by one liners that you post out on Warriors articles are false.
Warriors need some younger athletic bigs that can defend.
The reality is they made the second round of playoffs in a tough western conference with a very mediocre roster.
Butler and Green both battle and they make this team better.
Curry is so important and when he is out, obviously the depth is not there.
Players show glimpses, but are not consistent… overall considering the roster I would say this is a good result for the Warriors.
Another year wasted not having a solid team to have around Steph.
Kind of a frustrating, annoying team to watch, when I don’t want to be frustrated or annoyed by them! After all, this is the Warriors!
Oh….and please please let that be the last time we see Kuminga in a Warriors jersey….
Lacob loves Kuminga, so I expect you’ll be disappointed about his playing for GSW next season.
Question is, with a new big contract for Kuminga (assuming he resigns with the Warriors and Kerr is still the headcoach) does Kerr play him more? He is wasted talent sitting there on the bench when he could have been developed during the season to help in situations like this playoff series.
@TallBaller
Kerr doesn’t seem to trust him, so it’s possible they’ll do a sign and trade. If they can trade for a decent big man it would be more fair to Kuminga.
Nets could be best place for Kuminga. Especially if Nets land Maluach………. Maluach and Kuminga two African born ballers can lead Bklyn back to contention. Trust me that would be major in NYC……
Claxton is a great fit in GS. With Fox backing him up they are set at C.
Claxton would be a dream for warriors!
This means it won’t happen.