Paced by Julius Randle, Minnesota defeated Golden State and advanced to the Western Conference finals for a second consecutive year. Julius Randle had 29 points on 13-for-18 shooting, and the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Golden State Warriors 121-110 to secure their Western Conference second-round playoff series in Minneapolis.
Anthony Edwards ended with 22 points and 12 assists for Minnesota, which took the best-of-seven series in five games. The Timberwolves will move to the conference finals, where they will wait for the winner of the series between Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets.
It’s wonderful,” Randle added on Wednesday night. “We’ve had an adversity-filled season. Coach (Chris Finch) said at the end of the regular season we didn’t do anything in terms of trades or firing coaches. We just hung in there, and we survived it together.”.
“I’m extremely proud of our group, everyone who rallied up in some kind of manner this season. We picked up win No. 8 (in the playoffs). We have to keep pushing.” Brandin Podziemski posted 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting to top Golden State. Jonathan Kuminga contributed 26 points as a reserve, and Jimmy Butler III contributed 17 points and six assists.
It was a fight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I’m proud of our guys. They hung in there and they battled the whole way through. (It was) a big turnaround in our season from where we were a few months ago to giving ourselves a chance and having a swing at the plate for some real opportunities to go deep. We were there. It didn’t work out. The Wolves were terrific, they deserved it. But I’m extremely proud of our team.”
The Warriors lost their fourth consecutive game without Stephen Curry, who sat on the bench in street attire. Curry had injured his left hamstring during the opening game of the series after guiding the Golden State Warriors to a first-round playoff series victory against the Houston Rockets.
Kerr stated of the task of playing without Curry, “Injuries are part of the playoffs. I figured out a long time ago that the playoffs are really about health and then just guys stepping up and making some big shots, big plays in key games. That’s what determines every series.”. We’ve been on both sides of that. It’s just part of it. There’s no point in dwelling on it, and I don’t want to take anything away from what Minnesota just did.”
