Minneapolis – Julius Randle had 24 points and 11 assists to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves through another uneven performance, this time capitalizing on Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry’s absence in a 117-93 victory on Thursday that tied the second-round playoff series at one game apiece.
Anthony Edwards finished with 20 points after an injury scare for the Wolves, who more than tripled their 3-point output (going 16 for 37) from their Game 1 loss when Curry was sidelined by a left hamstring strain that likely will keep him out at least until next week.
Jonathan Kuminga (18 points) and Trayce Jackson-Davis (15 points) combined to shoot 14 for 17 from the floor for the Warriors, who took nearly five minutes to score until Jimmy Butler’s 3-pointer stopped the 13-0 run by the Wolves to start the game.
With the NBA’s career leading 3-point shooter sitting next to him on the bench, coach Steve Kerr used the kitchen-sink strategy with 14 players getting time – including a baker’s dozen in the first 14 minutes.
Kuminga, the seventh overall pick in the 2021 draft who dropped out of the rotation at times during the regular season, was a bright spot off the bench. But this Warriors team was already thin on offense with a healthy Curry.
Against the Wolves and their athletic, long and versatile defense, there wasn’t much to lean on. Without Curry to worry about, the Wolves had an easier time keeping shooters Buddy Hield and Brandin Podziemski quiet and the smooth and savvy Butler in check.
The Warriors put up their lowest first-quarter score (15) in the playoffs since Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals, according to Sportradar, when they had 11 in a loss to Cleveland.
Draymond Green picked up his fifth technical foul of the playoffs, two short of an automatic one-game suspension, for elbowing Naz Reid after Reid had just fouled him. Green was hot about the call, continuing to shout at official Tony Brothers during the timeout at risk of getting a second one. Curry was concerned enough about his pal getting ejected that he went over to the scorer’s table to try to talk Green down and walk him back to the bench.
Knicks’ tickets skyrocket for Game 3
Ticket demand is so great for Saturday’s Game 3 of the NBA playoff series between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks that the average paid ticket price on the resale market approached $2,000 Thursday.
The average was $1,956 for Game 3 and $1,716 for Game 4, both at Madison Square Garden, according to ticketing technology company Victory Live, which analyzes transactions, not listings, on the secondary market.
The cheapest ticket for Game 3 was $626 on StubHub; for Game 4 it was $613 on Vivid Seats.
The Knicks have become the most exciting story in the playoffs, having erased 20-point deficits to beat the defending champion Celtics in the first two games of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Knicks, eliminated in the conference semifinals the last two years, would reach the Eastern finals for the first time since 2000 if they win two more games against the Celtics.
Ticket prices for Knicks home games have surged steadily each day leading into Games 3 and 4. The average resale price last Friday was $767 for Game 3 and $545 for Game 4.
Curry says patience will be required
Stephen Curry sat down after the Golden State Warriors went through their gameday shootaround practice in Minneapolis on Thursday, quickly announcing that he’s feeling great.
He was not telling the truth.
“Sarcasm,” the four-time NBA champion with the Warriors quickly clarified, just in case anyone missed the joke.
Curry is going to be a postseason spectator for at least a few games, his Grade 1 hamstring strain bad enough that it took him out of most of Game 1of the Warriors’ Western Conference semifinal series on Tuesday – and will sideline him not only for Game 2 on Thursday but likely Games 3 and 4 in San Francisco.
Curry – who is with the team but isn’t allowed to do anything basketball-related right now, even stationary shooting – isn’t exactly sure why the strain happened. He’s never had any hamstring issue of significance before.
“It’s hard to really predict this stuff is what I’m learning,” Curry said. “There were no, like, warning signs or any weird feelings. I felt great the whole game up until that point. And then I made a little pivot move on defense and felt something.”
Curry thought he would be able to return to Game 1, then quickly realized that wasn’t the case. Playing with the strain could have made the issue far worse, Curry said. And hamstrings, he’s quickly learning, need time, no matter what sort of rehabilitation program he partakes in.
“Obviously, a tough break,” Curry said. “Hopefully I’ll be back soon.”
Curry scored 13 points in 13 minutes of Game 1, left in the second quarter and Golden State went on to finish off a 99-88 win. Buddy Hield, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green combined for 62 points for the Warriors, who held Minnesota to a 5-for-29 effort on 3-point tries and limited the Timberwolves to 60 points through three quarters.
“We have a lot of confidence that we can still win the series and guys will step up no matter how it looks,” Curry said. “And it’s obviously a situation where you want to think positively and optimistically that we can win games and buy me some time to get back and hopefully have another series after this and be able to be in a position where I can get back out there safely, where I’m not putting too much risk on the body if it’s not ready.”
Curry, who is averaging a team-best 22 points in these playoffs for Golden State, can still contribute in small ways even if he’s not playing.
“The guys obviously revere Steph, and they love his presence and that’ll matter to us tonight during the game,” coach Steve Kerr said in his pregame interview. “I’m sure he’ll be talking to the guys on the sidelines and giving some thoughts. He may come into our huddle and make a suggestion, which I always welcome, so it’s good to have him here for sure.”
Nuggets recover from 43-point loss
The Denver Nuggets held what essentially was a group therapy session Thursday after their 43-point demolition at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series.
“You can’t just say, ‘Hey, let’s just have a mental day. Move on. We’re good, we split,” interim coach David Adelman said. “That’s not the case. If we want to win Game 3 things have to be different.”
Starting with their mentality, he said.
“In the NBA playoffs, a lot of the time the whistle and the way the game is played is who hits first,” Adelman said. “And I thought they hit first, second and third. … And tomorrow we have to be the aggressor, and I expect us to be.”
Adelman said the film review, albeit uncomfortable, proved productive.
“A lot of guys had thoughts on what they felt last night,” Adelman said. “And that allows you to move on and do things better tomorrow night.”
Adelman said the general sentiment was one of embarrassment.
“There was a lot of people speaking up and saying, ‘I can do better,’ which I love,” Adelman said. “And then there’s the film never lies, that kind of thing.”
The series shifts to Denver on Friday night, the Nuggets’ sixth game since April 29 whereas the top-seeded Thunder entered this semifinal series on nine days’ rest after sweeping Memphis in Round 1.
Denver survived a brutal seven-game series with the Los Angeles Clippers and 48 hours later beat Oklahoma City in the opener on Aaron Gordon’s 3-pointer that capped a frenetic comeback in the final minutes.
It all caught up to them Wednesday night when they fell behind in the opening minutes of Game 2 and watched the Thunder run away with it without any real resistance.
“I don’t want to say we weren’t ready to play,” Adelman said. “I think we weren’t ready to play at that level. And when they came out the way they did, I thought our reaction to it took a really long time to understand what kind of game it was.”
Adelman said of all the things the Nuggets need to correct, “it comes down to the mentality of how we play tomorrow. And we had a great mentality in Game 1. People can say, ‘Oh, you were behind in Game 1, too.’ But it never felt like we let go of the rope. And yesterday I felt we let go of the rope and I felt they also played at an extremely high level.”
Adelman acknowledged fatigue was a factor in Denver’s dismal performance.
“I’ll say this: fatigue is a word you can use when you lose in the playoffs and that is a factor, but fatigue is part of what the postseason is,” Adelman said. “And finding that next level, your second wind, your third wind, collectively finding energy from each other, is how you win these games.
“And there’s a million ways to break things down: oh, they’re playing more people than you or they had eight days off. All those things are true. But the other truth is well, we had enough energy to win Game 1 two days after winning a Game 7. So, why not have enough energy last night? I think the guys have it in them and I think they’ll bring it tomorrow night.”
Cavs’ Atkinson refuses to dwell on missed calls
Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson refused to blame officials for what the NBA said were three incorrect no-calls in the final minute – including one that led to Tyrese Haliburton’s game-winning 3-pointer – in Indiana’s 120-119 victory over Cleveland in Game 2 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night.
The NBA said Wednesday in its “Last 2-Minute Report” on the game that two lane violations and defensive 3 seconds call were missed. The NBA releases those reports the day after games where the margin is three points or fewer at any time in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime.
The league said Haliburton should have been called for a lane violation for stepping over the plane of the free throw line before the ball touched the rim on a missed foul shot with 12.4 seconds remaining with Indiana trailing 119-117.
Haliburton got the offensive rebound after it was deflected by multiple players, dribbled out to the 3-point line and made the game-winning, step-back shot from the top of the key as the Pacers rallied from a 20-point, second-half deficit to go up 2-0 in the series.
Haliburton though wasn’t the only player to commit a lane violation on the play. The NBA said multiple players entered the lane.
Atkinson – honored as the NBA’s Coach of the Year on Monday – said his bigger worries were about how the Cavs lost their lead and how Indiana scored the final eight points in 47.9 seconds to get the victory.
“I think we always have recency bias. So what happened in the last 30 seconds? It’s like, how’d you lose that 20-point lead,” Atkinson said after practice on Thursday. “I’d say it was coaching decisions, player decisions, and then referee decisions. And we all made mistakes. And then if you put it kind of a ledger, you add all those up and that their minus-20 goes to, oh my gosh. We had plenty of decisions where we could have made it. I’m kind of there with that.”
The NBA also said multiple players committed lane violations with 48 seconds remaining on a missed free throw by Indiana’s Pascal Siakam. One of the players was Aaron Nesmith, whose dunk off the rebound got the Pacers with 118-113.
Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell should have been called for a 3-second violation with 15 seconds left. That would have been a technical foul where Indiana should have been awarded one free throw as well as maintaining possession of the ball.
While Atkinson has been critical of some of the non-calls and his feeling that some of the physical play has been excessive, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle pointed out that his team has been called for nine more fouls than the Cavaliers.
The series shifts to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Friday.
“Look, we’re not expecting any gifts from the refs and I don’t think we got any in the first two games. I know they disagreed with some calls, it’s all part of it,” Carlisle said.
Second round playoff scheduleEastern ConferencePacers vs. Cavaliers
(Indiana leads 2-0)
Game 1: Indiana 121-112
Game 2: Indiana 120-119
Game 3: Friday at Indiana, 7:30
Game 4: Sunday at Indiana, 8
Game 5: x-Tuesday, May 13 at Cleveland, TBA
Game 6: x-Thursday, May 15 at Indiana, TBA
Game 7: x-Sunday, May 18 at Cleveland, TBA
Celtics vs. Knicks
(New York leads 2-0)
Game 1: New York 108-105 (OT)
Game 2: New York 91-90
Game 3: Saturday at New York, 3:30
Game 4: Monday, May 12 at New York, 7:30
Game 5: x-Wednesday, May 14 at Boston, TBA
Game 6: x-Friday, May 16 at New York, TBA
Game 7: x-Monday, May 19 at Boston, TBA
Western ConferenceThunder vs. Nuggets
(Series tied 1-1)
Game 1: Denver 121-119
Game 2: Oklahoma City 149-106
Game 3: Friday at Denver, 10
Game 4: Sunday, May 11 at Denver, 3:30
Game 5: Tuesday, May 13 at Oklahoma City, TBA
Game 6: x-Thursday, May 15 at Denver, TBA
Game 7: x-Sunday, May 18 at Oklahoma City, TBA
Timberwolves vs. Warriors
(Series tied 1-1)
Game 1: Golden State 99-88
Game 2: Minnesota 117-93
Game 3: Saturday at Golden State, 8:30
Game 4: Monday, May 12 at Golden State, 10
Game 5: x-Wednesday, May 14 at Minnesota, TBA
Game 6: x-Sunday, May 18 at Golden State, TBA
Game 7: x-Tuesday, May 20 at Minnesota, TBA
x-If necessary
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