Timberwolves blitz Golden State in third quarter, take 3-1 series lead

San Francisco Plan A for Minnesota the moment Steph Curry s identification of a hamstring strain was validated Don t let the superstar guard see the floor again in this series That meant downing the Warriors four straight times to finish the series in five games likely one championship before Curry could feasibly return to action Monday s third quarter moved Minnesota within one challenge of completing the mission Trailing by two at the half the Timberwolves cranked up two things their ball movement on offense and their intensity on defense The development was an avalanche and a - win that gave Minnesota a commanding - lead in the Western Conference semifinal series Anthony Edwards scored points in the first minutes seconds of the frame as he drove and finished through contact on one play and buried consecutive triples at once after that His offense was the spark for a team-wide inferno Minnesota went for in the quarter And the Warriors whose only offensive faucet since Curry went down has been to push with pace and count either in transition or against cross matches were helpless when attempting to sum against Minnesota s set defense The combination contributed to Minnesota s best quarter in the franchise s playoff history The Timberwolves outscored Golden State - to take a -point lead by quarter s end and for all intents and purposes end the series Encounter is Wednesday at p m at Target Center Technically Golden State could win that encounter and push the series back to California to give Curry a crack at a triumphant return but that feels highly unlikely Minnesota is purely too much for Golden State with Curry in street clothes Before and after each tournament Warriors coach Steve Kerr has talked about how Golden State has to play with pace execute the gameplan defensively and win the possession battle Basically all of the controllables that the worse squad in a matchup has to execute in order to pull off a massive upset But those things are complicated to carry out for minutes straight The Warriors did them for minutes on Saturday and on Monday But the moment Golden State lets go of the rope Minnesota pounces And when Minnesota pounces the battle is over It did so Monday in the form of an Edwards explosion Minnesota was bamboozled by Golden State s zone at the end of the first half of Event The Warriors were getting stops on one end and attacking Minnesota in transition on the other The Wolves were fortunate to only trail - at the break thanks to a -point half from Julius Randle and a couple of key triples in the final minutes of the half from Edwards to stem the tide Minnesota roared out of the gates in the third quarter utilizing ball movement to rip that same zone defense to shreds and remove the final ounces of fight from the Warriors That -point third quarter margin marked Minnesota s highest in any quarter in franchise playoff history Edwards finished with points while Randle had Minnesota hit triples on the night tied for fourth-most in a playoff battle in franchise history