Souhan: Grudges, violence, admiration ... story lines aplenty when Wolves-Warriors clash

The story lines linking the Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors write themselves.

No, wait — it seems that you actually have to type them in.

So here they are:

A former Wolves basketball boss acquired Jimmy Butler to give his young team toughness and playoff savvy. Butler wound up staying one year, ridiculing the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, then leaving.

Then-head coach Tom Thibodeau‘s miscalculation cost him his job, and Butler burnished his national reputation. In reality, he was a jerk who won nothing, then left.

The Warriors went 23-8 in the regular season after trading for Butler in February. This series will be the true test of his value for a franchise that retains championship hopes.

In November of 2023, Warriors star Draymond Green, while pretending to break up a fight, grabbed Wolves center Rudy Gobert in a headlock and choked him, then said he didn’t regret it.

Green is volatile, and Gobert can be emotional. If Gobert can let Green misbehave without responding, Green could rack up technical fouls, flagrant fouls and perhaps even get himself suspended.

Former Wolves basketball boss David Kahn not only drafted two point guards in succession in his first draft, he picked Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn instead of Steph Curry. Someone in Minnesota should look into that. Seems like it might have been a slight miscalculation.

That’s ancient history, and no one knows how long Curry would have stayed with the Wolves had they drafted him … but if Curry beats the Wolves, there will be a lot of salty wounds in Minnesota.

Wolves star Anthony Edwards played for Warriors coach Steve Kerr in the Olympics. Kerr also put Edwards through a pre-draft workout, then told him he wasn’t in good enough shape, pointing to Curry and former Warriors star Klay Thompson as examples of basketball workaholics.

Wolves coach Chris Finch said he stayed in touch with Kerr before, during and after the Olympics and said Kerr and Edwards built a strong relationship.

At 23, Edwards has eliminated Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, LeBron James and Luka Doncic. Eliminating Curry, Green and Butler would call even more national attention to his youthful greatness.

The Warriors are the seventh seed in the Western Conference but went 23-8 after trading for Butler, and during that time, they were the top-rated defensive team in the NBA.

The Wolves are the sixth seed in the West and are 21-5 since Julius Randle returned from injury.

Both teams proved that the regular season is more about getting organized than winning big. Both teams closed out their first-round series on the road.

Finch outclassed Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick in the first round. Kerr is a proven coach. Finch has a deeper, more rested team and more ways of winning games, but Kerr won’t be thought out of the gym.

The Wolves had a week off before starting the playoffs and will have had almost a week off before playing in Game 1 against the Warriors at Target Center.

The Wolves have played five games since the end of the regular season. The Warriors, who had to survive the play-in round, have played eight, including games Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, two of which were played in Houston.

The Warriors flew from Houston to Minneapolis.

The Wolves are deeper and better rested, and the last two times they had five days or more of rest before a playoff series, they swept the Phoenix Suns and beat the Lakers in five.

At 28, Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo has already played in 44 playoff games. Thirteen of them came with the Warriors in 2023. His personal playoff record is 25-19. The Wolves acquired him from the New York Knicks for a series like this. He is one of several options the Wolves have for guarding Curry, and his ballhandling and three-point shooting could be invaluable.

I picked the Wolves to beat the Lakers in seven games because I overestimated Redick and the Lakers’ roster.

The Warriors present a greater challenge. They have three genius-level basketball players, and none of them is as old as LeBron James or as out of shape as Luka Doncic.

The Warriors won’t beat themselves, but the Wolves will beat the Warriors.

The Wolves have the defense to bother Curry and the depth to expose the Warriors’ flaws.

I’m picking the Wolves in six only because the Wolves occasionally have a terrible offensive game, and out of an abundance of admiration for Curry.

If the Wolves can find a way to dominate the boards and push pace against one of the most methodical teams in the NBA, this could be over in four or five.