Warriors on the Brink: Kerr Banks on Grit and Defense as Curry’s Return Hangs in the Balance
Without Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors are huge underdogs to advance to the conference finals over the Timberwolves. Steve Kerr knows it, and he wasn’t afraid to speak the hard truth after Minnesota took a 2-1 series lead with a 102-97 win Saturday night.
“I think we’re gonna win the series with defense,” Kerr said. “We’re not gonna beat them in a skill game, we have to get stops to win the series. Without Steph obviously we’re a totally different team. If we can get stops and run, create some offense off of our defense, that’s part of the formula.”
Curry suffered a hamstring strain during the second quarter of Game 1. He’s going to be reevaluated on Wednesday ahead of Game 5, but reports suggest that the best-case scenario will be Curry returning for Game 6 on Sunday, May 18.
“Nobody able to cover Steph Curry and what he does,” Warriors guard Buddy Hield said when asked how hard it is to fill Curry’s shoes. “There’s no pressure. If you coming in thinking you got to like fill his role, you’re crazy. He’s touched by an angel, he’s touched by god. He’s blessed.”
The Warriors are certainly capable of winning without Curry. They dominated Game 1 and controlled Game 3 until the Timberwolves took over in the fourth quarter. The defense, fueled by Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Gary Payton II — and even Hield and Brandin Podziemski putting pressure on the ball — has made Minnesota look out of sorts on the offensive end.
Still, Minnesota, not playing at the level they’re capable of on offense, has found a way to reclaim home-court advantage and get within two wins of going back to the Western Conference Finals for a second year in a row.
“We don’t seem to panic. We tend to double down on what we do defensively. Offensively, we got a good rhythm,” guard Mike Conley said of the Wolves’ clutch-time play . “If we just continue to do that, we’ll be fine.”
The Wolves were 20-26 in clutch-time games — when the score is seperated by five or fewer points in the last five minutes of regulation or overtime — during hte regular season, and they’re now 4-0 in the clutch this postseason.
