When the first points in a game come after almost five minutes, a positive outcome is difficult, even in the NBA, where many impossible turnarounds are seen.
Minnesota struck back in the second game of the Western Conference playoff semifinals - the "wolves" defeated Golden State (117:93) on home court, so the series is tied 1:1 in San Francisco.
"Coach (Chris Finch) was very unhappy after the first match and he let us know that - we felt it and were quite motivated as a team now," said Julius Randle, who was also the winning team's top scorer with 24 points.
That without the injured Steph Curry (he will probably miss the next two games) everything will be much more difficult for the Warriors this time was clear at the beginning of the match when Minnesota took a 13:0 lead.
The offensive torment was stopped after almost five minutes by Jimmy Butler, but Steve Kerr's team scored only 15 points by the end of the first quarter, which is the fewest for this team in the playoffs since Game 2016 of the 11 Finals, when they scored XNUMX.
True, Golden State, even with the best three-pointer in NBA history, had problems on offense this season, and Kerr experimented with 14 different players against Minnesota.
"We have to realize how much we can do in this series without Steph. We gave a lot of players a chance and some of them really took advantage of it," Kerr pointed out.
Apart from Rand, Anthony Edwards stood out on the winning team as usual with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Nickel Alexander-Walker also scored the same number of points.
On the other side, Jonathan Cummings scored 18 points, and Buddy Hield and Trace Jackson-Davis each scored 15.
This match could not have happened without the "madness" of Draymond Green, who earned his fifth technical in these playoffs for elbowing Naz Reed and is two points away from a suspension.
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