Here are the schedule, key players and crucial statistics for the NBA Western Conference second-round playoff series.
NBA Western Conference second round
Best-of-seven series
Game 1: Tuesday at Target Center, 8:30 p.m., TNT
Game 2: Thursday at Target Center, 7:30 p.m., TNT
Game 3: Saturday at Chase Center, San Francisco, 7:30 p.m., ABC (Ch. 5)
Game 4: Monday, May 12 at Chase Center, 9 p.m., ESPN.
Game 5: Wednesday, May 14 (if necessary) at Target Center, time TBD, TNT
Game 6: Sunday, May 18 (if necessary) at Chase Center, time and TV TBD
Game 7: Tuesday, May 20 (if necessary) at Target Center, 7:30 p.m., ESPN
Golden State
The seventh-seeded Warriors upset second-seeded Houston in seven games, clinching on the road at Toyota Center. They won three of the series’ first four games, then lost Game 5 at Toyota Center and Game 6 at Chase Center to force the seventh game, which Warriors guard Buddy Hield helped win with his career-playoff-high 33 points.
The Warriors went 48-34 in the regular season — 24-17 both at home and away — and won their play-in game against Memphis to get the seventh seed.
Timberwolves
The sixth-seeded Wolves took down LeBron James, Luka Doncic and the third-seeded Lakers in five games. The Wolves split the first two games in L.A., then won both at Target Center before closing out the Lakers in L.A. They did so with a 103-96 Game 5 victory in which the home team too often looked slow, old and out of shape.
The Wolves went 49-33 in the regular season, 25-16 at home.
Warriors: Guards Stephen Curry, Buddy Hield and Brandin Podziemski, forwards Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green.
Timberwolves: Guards Mike Conley and Anthony Edwards, forwards Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle, center Rudy Gobert.
(The teams played their four games before the trade in February that brought Jimmy Butler to Golden State.)
Edwards scored 30 points in 35 minutes and Gobert had a 17-point, 11-rebound performance in San Francisco while limiting Curry to 6-for-17 shooting for 23 points.
Curry’s half-court, third-quarter buzzer-beater and his 30 points and eight assists evened the season series in the second game in three days at Chase Center. Hield added 27 points. Edwards scored 27 for the Wolves.
Another Steph Show, with seven more three-pointers and 11 consecutive points just two days after the Warriors lost 144-93 at Memphis. The Wolves trailed by 21 during their 37-point first half. They scored 38 points in the third quarter alone, but it wasn’t nearly enough at Target Center.
Curry made seven threes and scored 31 points, and the Warriors stopped the Wolves’ frantic comeback, fueled by Donte DiVincenzo, at Target Center. The victory got Golden State back to .500 in the final game of a four-game trip for a team missing three starters.
Jimmy Buckets is back
The enigmatic swingman, who played 69 games for Minnesota from 2017-18, forced a February deadline deal from Miami that transformed this Warriors team.
He has joined forces with Curry and become his team’s connector. He has brought his playoff tenacity every night as well as his health history, which currently has him playing through a pelvic injury.
Butler has been traded four times — from Chicago to Minnesota in June 2017, from Minnesota to Philadelphia in November 2018, from Philadelphia to Miami in July 2019 and from Miami to Golden State — and has played for five teams in all.
The trade in February has united him with Curry as a star duo — or maybe a superhero duo is more accurate.
“I think any team has a chance when I’m on a team,” Butler said after the trade. “But I know every team has a chance with Steph on it. I get to play Robin. That’s my Batman.”
The Warriors were 5-2 in the regular season and have gone 7-2 overall when Curry scores 30 or more points and Butler 20 or more.
What could have been
As if Wolves fans need another reminder, their team bypassed Curry not once but twice in the 2009 NBA draft, choosing Ricky Rubio fifth and Jonny Flynn sixth before the Warriors selected Curry seventh overall.
Before that draft, Curry’s camp said he wouldn’t play in Minnesota if he were drafted by the Wolves. Late in his second season, Curry said he ultimately would have played wherever he was drafted because it always had been his lifelong dream to follow his father, Dell, into the NBA.
Butler vs. Edwards
The two teams haven’t played since Butler was traded to Golden State, but Butler has made a career of generally defending the other team’s best wing player.
McDaniels vs. Curry
Curry will see plenty of other defenders, but, like Butler, McDaniels spends most of the game defending the opponent’s best wing player. McDaniels starred at both ends of the floor against the Lakers. Curry played through the Rockets series with a swollen, strapped thumb and still had 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in the series finale.
Your favorite big man’s favorite big man
The Warriors’ small lineups can take Wolves big man Gobert away from the basket and out of the game, like the Lakers did. Two words: Naz Reid. Reid impacts the game on both ends of the floor. He did it during crucial times against the Lakers with three-pointers while defending Doncic successfully more often than not in isolation situations.
Draymond Green, Warriors
You never know what you’re going to get with him walking the high wire with his emotions, but watch out if he starts hitting threes. Don’t forget this name either: Brandin Podziemski.
The Warriors’ bench scoring in Sunday’s 103-89 closeout game was Kevon Looney’s three points. The starters scored the rest, including Hield’s 33, Curry’s 22 and Butler’s 20. The Wolves’ reserves revealed the Lakers’ depth, or lack thereof. They well could do it again with Reid, DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and others.
Golden State’s Steve Kerr has 103 playoff coaching victories entering this series. His first two victories over Houston moved him past Larry Brown’s 100 career victories and Red Auerbach’s 99.
Still ahead: Phil Jackson (229), Pat Riley (171), Gregg Popovich (170), Doc Rivers (114) and Erik Spoelstra (110).
Kerr’s regular-season record over 11 seasons with the Warriors is 567-308.
The Wolves’ Chris Finch is 9-7 all time against the Warriors and is 16-16 overall in the playoffs. His regular-season record during five seasons as an NBA head coach — all with the Wolves — is 209-160.
Never count out Curry — who still can score in bunches — or Butler’s grit, but the Wolves’ depth, size and Ant Man will be too much. Wolves in 6
Whether it’s the return of Jimmy Buckets, the infamous chokehold, Minnesota passing on Curry (twice) or Ant’s list, drama is expected.
