Edwards and his five minutes of fantasy

The Warriors are running on empty. Or at least, that’s the impression left by the way this series is unfolding. It’s never wise to count this team out – one of the defining dynasties of the 21st century in the NBA – but it’s also foolish to ignore the obvious. Minnesota are outperforming expectations by a mile, making their lone defeat in the series feel more like an anomaly than a turning point.

They now lead 3-1 and head home to the Target Center with a chance to seal it. Credit where it’s due.

Warriors less hot without Curry

The absence of Stephen Curry looms large, and he’s being sorely missed. “He’s not going to do anything heroic,” explained Steve Kerr, ruling out his star’s return for Game 5 – a game that could see the Warriors eliminated. Curry himself spoke about it.

His points and the spark he brings to Golden State’s offense were sorely lacking once again on Monday night. Without him, all eyes turned to Jimmy Butler – supposedly the next man up on offense – who took just nine shots from the field, fewer than Podziemski, Kuminga, Hield, and even Green. A far cry from the firepower on the other side.

There, Anthony Edwards once again showed up in style at the Chase Center, just as he had in the previous game, and blew the contest wide open in the second half. He scored over half of his 30 points in the third quarter alone – 16 in just five minutes. The final score, 117-110, felt more comfortable than it looks.

The Warriors need more players willing to step up. They’ve gotten that recently from Buddy Hield. Draymond Green is still doing his usual thing – controversial but effective. And Jonathan Kuminga, playing for a potentially lucrative contract, is showing real progress. For a while, he was the best player on the court – until Edwards kicked the door down and took over. Butler remains under scrutiny, even if his coach has warned against writing him off just yet. But the damage is done. Golden State let the series slip away in San Francisco, where they could have tilted home-court advantage in their favor. Now they’re staring over the edge.

Congo-born Kuminga scored 11 of his 23 points from the free-throw line and was a standout for the home team. Podziemski (11), Hield (13) and Green (14) did their part on paper, but none managed to shoot above 50% from the field. From three-point range, Golden State’s 8-for-27 was painful to watch. In contrast, Minnesota knocked down 16 – double the amount – from long range. Edwards got help from Julius Randle, who scored one more point than him (31), a flawless Alexander-Walker who went 5-for-5 from the field, and Rudy Gobert, who was once again crucial in the most dominant stretch of basketball, even if it didn’t fully show in the stat sheet.

The Wolves made quick work of LeBron James’ Lakers and Luka Dončić, and now they’re going after bigger prey – a weakened Warriors team that still refuses to roll over no matter the odds. It’s been a valiant effort that’s rattled more than a few, including Oklahoma, who are glancing nervously from the other Western Conference semifinal at the team that could await – unless Denver knock them out first. With performances like this one, Anthony Edwards is staking his claim as a future star of the league – the kind of player his franchise needs in games like these.

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Golden State Warriors

Stats

10 Jimmy Butler III
23 Draymond Green
7 Buddy Hield
32 Trayce Jackson-Davis
12 Braxton Key
31 Kevin Knox II
0 Jonathan Kuminga
5 Kevon Looney
4 Moses Moody
0 Gary Payton II
2 Brandin Podziemski
21 Quinten Post
15 Gui Santos
61 Pat Spencer

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
10 Jimmy Butler III	34	14	6	3	3	3	2	0	1	4/5	5/8	0/1	0	2	0
23 Draymond Green	33	14	7	1	6	2	2	0	0	0/0	4/8	2/6	0	4	0
7 Buddy Hield	34	13	4	1	3	1	4	2	0	3/4	2/5	2/6	0	3	0
32 Trayce Jackson-Davis	19	5	3	1	2	1	0	0	0	1/2	2/2	0/0	0	3	0
12 Braxton Key	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
31 Kevin Knox II	4	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0/0	1/1	0/0	0	1	0
0 Jonathan Kuminga	29	23	0	0	0	1	2	1	0	11/12	6/11	0/2	0	1	0
5 Kevon Looney	13	8	8	3	5	0	0	0	0	2/2	3/5	0/0	0	2	0
4 Moses Moody	6	3	1	0	1	3	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	1/3	0	2	0
0 Gary Payton II	15	3	3	3	0	2	2	1	0	0/0	0/3	1/2	0	3	0
2 Brandin Podziemski	33	11	3	1	2	1	2	4	0	5/6	3/10	0/4	0	2	0
21 Quinten Post	4	5	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	0/0	1/2	1/2	0	1	0
15 Gui Santos	4	7	1	0	1	2	0	2	0	0/0	2/3	1/1	0	1	0
61 Pat Spencer	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2/2	0/0	0/0	0	0	0

Minnesota Timberwolves

Stats

9 Nickeil Alexander-Walker
22 Jaylen Clark
10 Mike Conley
4 Rob Dillingham
0 Donte DiVincenzo
5 Anthony Edwards
55 Luka Garza
27 Rudy Gobert
7 Joe Ingles
3 Jaden McDaniels
33 Leonard Miller
8 Josh Minott
30 Julius Randle
11 Naz Reid
0 Terrence Shannon Jr.

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
9 Nickeil Alexander-Walker	17	13	2	0	2	2	4	1	1	2/2	4/4	1/1	0	1	0
22 Jaylen Clark	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
10 Mike Conley	29	11	3	2	1	5	0	0	0	5/5	0/3	2/6	0	2	0
4 Rob Dillingham	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
0 Donte DiVincenzo	25	9	3	0	3	3	2	1	0	3/4	0/3	2/4	0	4	0
5 Anthony Edwards	33	30	4	0	4	5	3	2	0	2/3	5/10	6/11	0	5	0
55 Luka Garza	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
27 Rudy Gobert	29	8	6	3	3	1	0	0	1	4/4	2/4	0/0	0	1	0
7 Joe Ingles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
3 Jaden McDaniels	40	10	13	1	12	2	1	1	1	2/2	4/7	0/1	0	5	0
33 Leonard Miller	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
8 Josh Minott	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
30 Julius Randle	40	31	5	0	5	3	4	1	1	5/6	7/13	4/8	0	2	0
11 Naz Reid	23	5	2	0	2	1	5	3	1	0/0	1/1	1/3	0	3	0
0 Terrence Shannon Jr.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0