Minnesota Timberwolves, zeroed in from the start, thrash Golden State Warriors to even NBA playoff series

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said before Game 2 against the Warriors that his team was “stewing” in film session, practice and shootaround Wednesday and Thursday. This sour but businesslike mood wasn’t a bad thing in Finch’s eyes.

“I liked that,” he said.

While the team was stewing, Finch himself was steaming, according to Julius Randle.

“He cussed us out pretty well,” Randle said. “He was unhappy, and he let us know he was unhappy, and we felt that.”

They showed that with a 117-93 wire-to-wire victory over the Warriors in Game 2 on Thursday at Target Center. The Wolves have been an unserious basketball team at times, with a tendency to let winnable games slip away when other teams are down key players. Thursday was the first postseason challenge to see if they learned from their mistakes, with Warriors guard Stephen Curry out for multiple games because of a left hamstring strain. Aside from some hairy moments to start the third quarter, the Wolves passed that test with a well-balanced scoring effort.

“Don’t let it snowball,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said of the team’s message after Game 1. “You’re going to have a stinker every now and then. We can’t have these in the playoffs. … We can’t have any more of those games. We have to be locked in. If we want to accomplish what we want to accomplish, there’s no more stinkers.”

Randle led the way with 24 points and 11 assists while Nickeil Alexander-Walker had a bounce-back game with 20 points off the bench. Jaden McDaniels was key again on both ends of the floor in scoring 16 points and guarding Jimmy Butler (17 points) a large portion of the night, while Anthony Edwards played through a sprained left ankle suffered in the second quarter to score 20 points.

“That one was bad,” Edwards said of his momentary injury. “If y’all seen it, he like stepped on my foot so, yeah, that one was crazy. But I’ll be all right.”

The Wolves were cruising through the first half with a double-digit lead before Edwards went down late in the second quarter and needed help off the floor. He was wincing and grabbing at his left ankle after Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis inadvertently stepped on it.

But his teammates have seen this happen to Edwards many times. His injuries look bad in the moment, but he inevitably returns. As Naz Reid said, “I’ve seen this movie 80 times.”

Added McDaniels: “He’s got to have his leg chopped off or something.”

There were cheers in the arena when Edwards came out to warm up for the second half, but the nervous energy returned for a bit when the Warriors cut a 17-point Wolves lead to seven with a 16-6 run. That included Finch pulling Randle early for Reid after a pair of turnovers and Randle being slow to get back on defense before a bucket from Jonathan Kuminga (18 points).

Randle said he was “a little bit hot” on the bench, but he cooled off. It was an example of how hard Finch coaches him, he said, something Randle respects.

“I might not like it in the moment or whatever it is, but I love that he can challenge me like that,” Randle said. “Other day we’re in the film room, he challenged me multiple times on things that he saw from an effort standpoint. I wanted to make a point to come out and play with a high amount of energy, a high amount of effort, and respond to that challenge, not really necessarily take it personally.”

He returned to the game and had 20 points and 10 assists through three quarters, and the Wolves were up 20 by the start of the fourth.

Finch had also been hard on Edwards after Game 1 and said after the loss Edwards needed to set a better tone for his teammates, especially early in the game. Finch liked what he saw from Edwards on Thursday even if it wasn’t one of Edwards’ bigger boxscore games. He added nine rebounds, five assists and was 6-for-13 from the floor, 6-for-8 at the free-throw line.

“He stayed patient. They threw a bunch of different looks at him … he stayed aggressive. He got to the free throw line a little bit,” Finch said. “Shot the ball well when it came to him. I thought he played a really good game offensively within the flow of what we were trying to do.”

That flow returned to the offense, and the Wolves looked more like the team they were in Round 1 against the Lakers, specifically by hitting open looks from three-point range. After setting an NBA record for futility over the last two games from deep, the Wolves shot 16-for-37 (43%) from three-point range Thursday, a welcome return to form for everyone, especially Alexander-Walker, who had struggled with his shot this postseason.

Finch mentioned the team had challenged Alexander-Walker to get back to the way he played in the regular season.

“At the end of the day, they’re only saying that because they don’t believe in my ability,” Alexander-Walker said. “For me, you can’t run away from a challenge. If God is willing years from now, I can show my son what I was able to do and it’s just a life lesson. When you face adversity, you’ve got to step up to it.”

BOXSCORE: Wolves 117, Golden State 93

The Wolves stepped up after their awful Game 1 performance and did what they should against a Warriors team searching for answers without Curry. The crowd got on Draymond Green. The Wolves held Buddy Hield in check (15 points on 5-for-14 shooting), and they credited veteran point guard Mike Conley with infusing the team with energy after he chased Hield around the floor to start the game.

“It’s great to be 50 years old and still come out and defend and play with the effort that he does,” Randle said with a laugh.

The Wolves now head to San Francisco with Curry not expected back at least for a few more games in the series. They did what they had to do Thursday night. Now to do it when the series shifts to the Bay Area on Saturday for Game 3.

“We looked a lot more like ourselves,” Finch said.