Scoggins: Timberwolves’ Game 3 win spins from willingness to get ‘right down there in the mud with them’

SAN FRANCISCO – Steve Kerr telegraphed the Golden State Warriors’ intentions when he met with the media two hours before tipoff of Game 3 on Saturday night. Asked multiple ways about how Steph Curry’s injury absence affects his team’s offense, Kerr shifted the focus to his team’s defense.

Remove the NBA’s greatest shooter of all time, and the formula changes.

“We have to set a tone with our energy and our force more than anything,” Kerr said.

The Timberwolves saw it, felt it and survived it.

Anyone who expected a cakewalk after Curry suffered a hamstring injury in Game 1 should understand by now that the Wolves will need to win rock fights to return to the Western Conference finals.

The optics weren’t always aesthetically pleasing, but the outcome was beautiful from a Wolves perspective, a 102-97 victory at Chase Center to take a 2-1 series lead.

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

This is what it will take, rolling in the mud. The Curry-less version of the Warriors lacks sizzle on offense, but they haven’t lost their ability and willingness to play extremely hard and physically on defense.

Their defense is smothering, using pressure to force turnovers and bad decisions. The Wolves fell prey to that through three quarters and finished with 18 turnovers, but as has been the case since the start of the postseason, crunch time became winning time.

They won the fourth quarter decisively with a toughness that continues to show up in stressful moments.

Anthony Edwards took over after having his competitive fuse lit when he was dunked on by Jonathan Kuminga. Mike Conley spent every ounce of energy in his 37-year-old body on defense. Jaden McDaniels was impactful on both ends of the floor. And Julius Randle continued to be the team’s best player in the playoffs.

“I think we’re just more confident now than we have been in the past,” Conley said. “Being down a couple of points late in games, we don’t seem to panic.”

They are the better, deeper team, with more scoring options now that Curry is unavailable. Kerr is coaching like a mad scientist trying to find lineup combinations that might be effective. The one constant is the defense. The Warriors are making the Wolves work hard for every basket.

“That’s what a championship team does,” Conley said. “They have that DNA where they can change different lineups, throw different guys in, play different coverages, play zone. Those are all things we have to adjust to in the game.”

It remains unclear whether Curry will return to the series. Playoff Jimmy returned in Game 3.

Jimmy Butler took only 13 shots in Game 2, when his team needed someone to fill Curry’s void. The assumption was that Butler would take more ownership of the scoring role Saturday, and he did, finishing with 33 points on 26 field-goal attempts.

Playoff Ant outdueled him. Edwards finally came alive in the second half and started finishing at the rim, including another poster dunk that sent a charge through the Wolves bench.

Edwards scored 28 of his game-high 36 points after halftime. Randle posted a triple-double with 24 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds and added three steals.

The game still went down to the final minutes.

“We didn’t play the best basketball ourselves,” Wolves center Naz Reid said.

They still haven’t played their “A” game in this series. The Warriors deserve some credit for that. Their defense has ranked No. 1 in the NBA since Butler arrived in a trade. They play extremely hard on that end.

Good teams find ways to win even when they’re not at their best. That’s the takeaway from Game 3. The Wolves overcame poor shooting early, too many turnovers throughout, and inspired efforts from Butler and Kuminga.

The notion that this matchup should be easy with Curry sidelined is a false narrative. The Wolves know that winning the series will require getting dirty in the mud. They showed they can win that way, too.