How painful does it hurt without Curry?

Timberwolves 2-1 Warriors.

The Battle between two (often played with memes) Jordan's illegitimate son: Edwards' 36+4+4, Butler's 33+7+7.

The career battle between two No. 7 picks forwards: Kuminga's career playoff highest 30 points. Randall's first triple-double in his career.

The Warriors' formation confused the Timberwolves for a long time, but in the end the Timberwolves cracked and won. "We can compete without Curry... the key is to keep confidence." - Jimmy Butler

As Butler said, the Warriors have a big offensive problem without Curry, which is no longer news.

They lacked firepower and lost the G3 that was very likely to win. Even though there was no Curry, no one could stand up and score in the end, and was beaten by Edwards. There are a lot to discuss, but the point is that, besides Butler and Kumingga, the Warriors need more people to come forward.

In terms of offense, Podjemsky and Moody are the epitome of the problem.

Podjemsky only played one good goal throughout the playoffs... He scored 26 points and 6 of 11 three-pointers in Game 4 with the Rockets Series, which was the key to that win (the match when Butler returned). But beyond that, he averaged only 7 points in other games, with only 26% from three-pointers (12 of 46 shots). One-third of his three-pointers in the playoffs were concentrated in that game... He made 1 of 10 shots last night, obviously lacking confidence.

Moody's situation is even worse... Since the start at the start of the playoffs, he has now become the marginal person who has completely fallen out of the rotation. He was criticized by fans for his lack of playing time, but now he can only face the reality of being completely abandoned in this round of the series. He averaged 19 points per game in Games 5 and 6 of the Rockets series, but he only scored 3 points in the last four games, and made 0 of 14 shots, including extremely ugly shooting mistakes, and his confidence completely collapsed.

Even Dream Chasing Green today was disappointing.

He became the third player in NBA playoff history to score no more than 2 points, make more than 5 mistakes, and have 6 fouls.

The Warriors' dependence on Butler, Kumingga and Hield on the offensive end runs through the whole game.

When the Warriors led the first half, 30 of the 42 points came from these three (actually two, Hilder scored 0 in the first half). And the first half also set a record: the Warriors became the first team to lead the playoffs half since the 2017 Raptors but failed to hit any three-pointers. The last time the Warriors scored no three-pointers in a playoff half, it was the "Believe in the Warriors" era when they played against the Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs in 2007... At that time, Curry had not yet entered the NBA. In the second half, the Warriors were reversed, with 47 points still coming from the Big Three (Butler, Hilder, and Kumingga). Other players could hardly count on... Rooney and TJD combined for 11 points. Payton Jr. scored only 2 points, and he struggled very much without Curry - the Timberwolves were not guarding against him at all, and he could not seize any scoring opportunities.

The last cruel data: 14 mistakes in the game, only 23 three-pointers... Without Curry, not only did the shooting become difficult, but even the process of creating good opportunities has become even more difficult.

coach Cole still insists on emphasizing defense: "I think the hope of our series in this round is defense. We cannot defeat our opponents by relying on technical content, and we must play a series of great defensive performances. Without Curry, we are obviously a completely different team."

The Warriors did win the first half by relying on defense today, allowing their opponents to score 40 points. But the second half gradually became the "technical challenge" that Cole called... Edwards recovered in form, and Green was in trouble for fouls. However, the Warriors' offense was at the bottom: in the first 19 points in the third quarter, Butler took charge of 18 points (scoring + assists), pointing at JB's holding the ball alone.

The Warriors barely survived the third quarter, but they had no solution to their defense against Gobert in the final quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Warriors' final lead was 82-77, and Butler also made a forced three-pointer, got to free throws, and fed Looney and Cuminggan to cut inside.

But from then on... Randle and Edwards took turns to break through and three-pointers, but Butler's physical strength bottomed out: the mid-range shot hit the front basket, the layup was covered, and the pass Green went out of bounds. His final contribution was to Gobert's fifth foul.

Kumingga worked hard in the last 2 minutes, but the Warriors' rotation could not be maintained: Edwards' three-pointer in the fourth quarter and Randall's breakthrough were all at ease. The defense collapsed and the game was over.

Butler still maintains confidence and hopes that the team will show the dignity it deserves, even without Curry: "Victory is everything. As long as you win, no one cares about Curry's absence... But if we lose, not only everyone will talk about this topic, but we may not even be back. So we have to wear the jersey like a man and show a high level."

As Hilder said, no one can really replace Curry: "No one can copy his output. If you think you can replace Curry, it will only add pressure to yourself. We can only try our best to make up for his absence collectively."

This is the problem that the Golden State Warriors must overcome.

Huazi and Jimmy... Everyone is playing tricks that they are Jordan's sons.

The fight today is obvious: Edwards is more like Jordan in the late 1980s, facing the basket, speed, taking off, smashing and hitting the ball.

Butler was in the last three championships and even the Wizards period: floor flow, time difference, angle of playing boards, grasp of offensive timing, reading, footsteps.

Edwards was confused by the Warriors' changing defense in the first half, while Butler was teasing Gobert with European pace. In the third quarter, the two played equally. In the fourth quarter, Jimmy ran out of energy and Huazi closed the game.

Before Jimmy's physical strength was exhausted, he had a stable output of three and a half cents.. After Edwards found the rhythm in the second half, he exploded with 26 points.

Their own styles are unique. In fact, it is also the style of the two teams: the Warriors deal with changes and details until the end, and the Timberwolves' talent and enthusiasm won the game.