Minnesota Timberwolves make the third quarter — and the series against Golden State, too? — their own

SAN FRANCISCO – With the Timberwolves down two at halftime of Game 4, coach Chris Finch told his team “we’re playing like we already won the series,” according to Anthony Edwards.

“I didn’t really like that,” Edwards said.

It wasn’t that Edwards disliked Finch’s words, because Finch was right, but Edwards joined Finch in his displeasure over how he and the team were playing.

According to Finch, Edwards was “one of the most vocal” players in the halftime locker room. They weren’t the only ones speaking up, but as Finch said, Edwards’ blunt words “set the tone.”

“I told them we only got two wins. I never seen a series end 2-1,” Edwards said. “We got to take two more wins, and right now we playing like we got four wins. We playing like they gonna lay down. … If we would’ve kept playing like that, we would’ve lost tonight."

The whole team responded in an impressive third quarter, one of the only times all series the Wolves put it all together on both ends of the floor. That third quarter boosted them to a 117-110 victory over the Stephen Curry-less Warriors. The Wolves now lead the series 3-1 and can advance to the Western Conference finals for the second consecutive season with a victory Wednesday night at Target Center in Game 5. They have their response out of that halftime to thank.

“It was extremely vocal,” Julius Randle said. “We were just talking about what we need to do better. I don’t think it was like any panic or tension. It was who we are as a team.”

The Wolves beat the Warriors 39-17 in that third quarter, the highest positive point differential for the Wolves in any quarter in their postseason history. Edwards scored 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting. He buried three three-pointers, and the Wolves transformed back into the tough defensive unit they knew they could be after slacking in several areas during the first half — namely containing the ball and rebounding.

“We were letting Jonathan Kuminga get everywhere he wanted to go,” Edwards said.

Kunminga had 16 of his 23 points in the first half. The Warriors had nine offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points in the first two quarters. Randle kept the Wolves afloat on offense in the first half with 19 of his 31 points, as he continues his strong postseason run.

“I thought we were just kind of doing 85 percent of the job out there in the first half,” Finch said.

Added Edwards: “Just game-plan mistakes that can’t happen if you want to beat a championship team and if you want to be going to the finals, or Western Conference finals at least, you can’t. You can’t let those things happen. You’ve got to be better.”

That flipped in the third. Jaden McDaniels spurred the defense, as he got to the glass for seven of his team-high 13 rebounds. The Wolves got out in transition and beat the Warriors’ zone defense, which had slowed them in the second quarter. They went on a 17-0 run and were able to cruise from there despite a messy fourth quarter in which they committed 13 turnovers. They also played around uncharacteristic Edwards foul trouble late in the third quarter and early in the fourth after he picked up his fifth foul. But he had done enough damage in the third.

“On the road, you can hear the pain from the crowd when he’s making shots like that,” said guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who had 13 points on 5-for-5 shooting. “He gets on a heater and he starts to do his thing and be the showman that he is.”

As Draymond Green said: “He is a one of one.”

Edwards provided the highlights, but the defense provided the opportunities for those to come and for Edwards to take the life out of the Warriors and the crowd with each of his buckets. By the time the clock ran out, not a lot of people were left in Chase Center.

“I thought we came out at halftime with the type of focus and intensity and purpose on offense and attention to detail on defense, what we needed from the start,” Finch said. “But for the most part, we were lucky to be just down a bucket at halftime. I thought we could have been down more.”

The reason they weren’t was Randle, who had two of his children join him for the postgame news conference. He had another big night even as he was battling a cold that was spreading through his family. One of his sons, he said, had his eyes “swollen shut.”

BOXSCORE: Wolves 117, Warriors 110

“Maybe I need to be sick more,” Randle said. “… Pulled through, handled business and I’ll be fine.”

Handling business is what the Wolves have done since Curry went out because of a hamstring strain in Game 1, even if it hasn’t always been pretty. The Warriors said Wednesday that Curry would be re-evaluated in a week. That’s the day of Game 5. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the team will have an update then.

“Trust me, man, I wish he could be out there to play against him, no matter how it goes,” Edwards said.

But as unfortunate as Curry’s injury was, the Wolves did what they had to do when another team is missing its best player in the playoffs. Now they’re only one more win away from the third Western Conference finals appearance in franchise history.

“I know they are ready for the series to be over,” McDaniels said of Wolves fans. “I feel like it’s going to be too loud for me to talk to my teammates in [Target Center].”