SAN FRANCISCO — With Golden State playing without Steph Curry, Minnesota has a massive talent advantage over the Warriors. But an easy out? No, Golden State refuses to be that.

The Warriors dug in defensively Saturday in Game 3 at Chase Center. They executed their gameplan to perfection. They got a throwback performance from Jimmy Butler III, and a breakthrough night from Jonathan Kuminga, who scored 30 points. In a surprise to most, Golden State had the Wolves on the ropes in the fourth quarter.

But after being outexecuted for three-plus quarters, it was Minnesota that made enough plays in winning time down the stretch to secure a key victory. Minnesota out scored Golden State 25-15 over the game’s final 7 minutes, 11 seconds to win 102-97 and take a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 is at 9 p.m. CT on Monday in San Francisco.

Not bad for a team that emitted such an unpleasant odor at the end of tight games during the regular season. The Timberwolves were 20-26 in clutch time games — contests where the margin is within five points at any point in the final five minutes. They’re now 4-0 in such situations in these playoffs.

“I think we’re just more confident now than we have been in the past. We saw it tonight being down a couple points late in games, and we don’t seem to panic. We tend to kind of double down on what we do defensively. Offensively, we got a good rhythm,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “After now getting more chemistry with these guys and Julius (Randle), we now know who and where to go to and how to get guys involved late and get easy opportunities for ourselves. We just continue to do that, I think we’ll be fine.”

Randle has indeed been a stabilizer for Minnesota. He is generating good looks, for himself and others, seemingly on demand. Randle had four points and five dimes in the final frame. The assists went the way of Anthony Edwards, who struggled mightily in the first half Saturday — a continuation of his overall play to start the series — before a switch flipped over the final two frames.

Edwards scored 28 of his 36 points in the second half. The buckets ranged from a thunderous slam over Warriors’ big man Kevon Looney to a triple hit over the extended arm of Brandin Podziemski.

The heroics were needed to dig Minnesota out of a hole created by a number of mental lapses from the Wolves themselves. They committed 21 turnovers in the loss. Golden State’s scouting report is spot on, and the Warriors — who touted the NBA’s top defense after trading for Butler in February — execute it to the best of their ability.

Golden State flummoxed Minnesota for large segments of Saturday’s showdown. Minnesota scored just one point over the final 6:30 of the second quarter to trail 42-40 at the half. But the Wolves kept plugging away defensively and finding just enough buckets to stay in the game on a night where they, frankly, weren’t very good.

“That’s what a championship team does. They have that DNA where they can change different lineups, throw different guys in, play different coverages, play zone,” Conley said of the Warriors. “Those are all things we have to adjust to in the game. Just the way we have done it throughout the first couple games has been spectacular, just being able to dissect and know when to find guys in different situations.”

Eventually, Golden State wore down. Butler was outstanding, finishing with 33 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. He was the best player through the first three quarters. But on a night where he carried a heavy burden on both ends, the all-star wing looked exhausted down the stretch. He went just 1 for 7 in the fourth quarter. And once his effectiveness waned, Golden State’s offense grinded to a halt.

The Warriors went nearly six minutes without a made field goal in the middle of the fourth quarter.

“They made the game ugly. They did a great job of just being super physical and trying to kind of … take it into the mud,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said of the Warriors. “We could certainly obviously do things better and smarter. We’ll look at the tape to try to see where we can, but I was proud of our guys because we got right down there in the mud with them.”

Randle finished with 24 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Jaden McDaniels was also excellent in the final frame. Golden State put up a hellacious fight for a team dueling without its best player in Steph Curry, but the Warriors just don’t seem to have the firepower sans Curry to go blow for blow with Minnesota.

The Wolves grinded the life out of the Lakers over time in Round 1. Perhaps the same is taking place with Golden State.

“They play so hard all the time you can’t really tell,” McDaniels said. “Nah, I don’t think we do [feel like we’re wearing them down].

“Not yet.”

Originally Published: May 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM CDT