Timberwolves overtime: Key moments as the Wolves are upset in Game 1 by the Warriors 99-88

Golden State set opponent playoff scoring records, led by as many as 23 points and won a lopsided Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinals series, beating the Timberwolves 99-88 on Tuesday at Target Center.

And they did it just 48 hours after their Game 7 upset victory in Houston — and much of it without superstar Stephen Curry.

Curry had already scored 13 points in 13 minutes after he left the game late in the second half with what the team called a strained left hamstring and was done for the night.

Strained hamstring, a tricky thing in a seven-game playoff series.

“We’re definitely game-planning for him not to be available on Thursday,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said about Curry. “With a hamstring it’s hard to believe he’d be ready to play on Thursday.”

Kerr said he’ll give his players Wednesday off after they played a Game 7 in Houston on Sunday and have flown across the country more than once recently.

“Our guys are tired,” Kerr said. “They need a rest. They need the day. Coaches will meet tomorrow and figure out a plan for Thursday.”

Kerr said he’d likely call upon backup guard Pat Spencer more if Curry can’t play.

Curry was 5-for-9 from the field and 3-for-6 on threes and the Warriors had led by as many as 14 points when he left the game. Gary Payton II started the second half for him with Golden State leading the Wolves 44-31 after the Warriors had outscored the home team 26-11 in the second quarter.

Payton immediately made a three-pointer to start the third quarter, extending the lead to 16 points on the way to as many as 23. He forced a jump ball soon thereafter, too.

With Curry out, Wolves star Anthony Edwards went 9-for-22 — and just 1-for-5 threes — in 42 minutes after he went 0-for-11 in the clinching first-round Game 5 at the L.A. Lakers. He tried to get the Wolves back in contention in the fourth quarter with repeated drives to the basket but could only get the Wolves any closer than single digits briefly in the final six minutes.

COVID-19 silenced playoff crowds when new Wolves coach Chris Finch arrived to his new job in Minnesota five years ago.

On Tuesday, a sellout “white-out” crowd roared while wearing white T-shirts laid out on all the seats pregame.

“It’s one of the loudest arenas I’ve ever played,” Finch said. “It’s got tight sightlines and the fans are right on top of you. It’s how it should be. We’re hoping for another great environment sparked by us.”

He said that last sentence before his team went out and scored 31 points in the first half — a record for a Warriors opponent — and were booed by the home crowd.

The Wolves’ 31 first-half points were the fewest at halftime by a Warriors opponent in the first half of a playoff game in the shot-clock era. Houston scored 33 at Golden State on April 16, 2016.

The fewest by a Warriors opponent for any half in a playoff game is 25. That was Houston’s second half at Golden State on May 26, 2018.

The Wolves had only 11 in the second quarter.

Tuesday’s game was delayed in the opening two minutes after Warriors guard Buddy Hield — hero of Golden State’s Game 7 upset at Houston on Sunday — realized … wait for it … he was wearing the wrong shorts.

The Warriors tried to summon Payton from the tunnel into the game, but the whole thing took long enough the Warriors were charged a timeout.

The game was delayed again shortly thereafter while officials checked video review to see if a ball had hit the rim.

Hield made consecutive threes less than four minutes into the third quarter to give his team a 55-35 lead.

Former Timberwolves star Jimmy Butler was booed by the partisan crowd the first time he touched the ball and then mostly every other time he touched it again. He was cheered when he missed a free throw with 10 minutes left before halftime and when he shot an air ball.

Butler played 69 games for the Wolves after then basketball boss Tom Thibodeau acquired him in a 2017 draft week trade and the Wolves, with Thibodeau gone, traded him away to Philadelphia in November 2018.

Payton came off the Warriors’ bench with seven minutes gone in the game after he missed Game 7 in Memphis because he was too ill to play. He traveled with the team from Houston on Monday, wore a mask and sat in the back of the chartered plane away from the other players.

“He’s good, “ Kerr said. “He’s ready to go.”

He sure was. Payton played 26 minutes, many of them in Curry’s absence, and had eight points, five rebounds and four assists.

Game 1 celebrity sightings included Vikings Aaron Jones and Josh Metellus and Wild stars Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.