The Timberwolves scored a historical low 31 points in the first half in a frustrating loss that saw Stephen Curry miss the entire second half with a hamstring injury.
The Minnesota Timberwolves went into Tuesday night’s Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors as the more well-rested team, heavily favored, and as Head Coach Chris Finch put it, “with great energy.”
Buddy Hield wore the wrong shorts. It stopped play. Yep, you read that right. Similar to yourself in the morning, if you’ve had a few drinks the night before, Buddy Hield did something similar in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals and wore the wrong pants. That, along with a shot clock issue, stopped play for a sizable amount of time early in the game and took a lot of pace out of the ball, muddying things up.
Buddy Hield started the game in the wrong shorts, so he had to run back to the locker room and change pic.twitter.com/8AxoDdBkLK
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 7, 2025
The aforementioned energy by Finch was marginal, with Anthony Edwards starting an abysmal 0-6 from the field, with two of them being wide-open layups.
In case you had the game DVR’d and are waiting to watch it later, SKIP THE FIRST HALF! Edwards’ first quarter would be the tip of the iceberg.
Not only did the Wolves proceed to not make any of their first-half 15 3-point attempts (you read that right, 0-15 from three), they also ended up scoring their second-lowest point total in franchise history in a half with 31. Their lowest previously was 27, and their previous low was 33.
The Timberwolves have just scored the lowest amount of points in a half in franchise history. The previous record was 33 on January 19, 2015.
This was the starting five. Unreal crew. pic.twitter.com/iU4sqAwAIz
— Andrew Carlson (@andrew_carlson2) May 7, 2025
It was a complete missed opportunity, especially with Stephen Curry exiting the game early with a strained hamstring and being ruled out for the game. He could be missing upwards of a week plus. A major development in the series.
Warriors’ Stephen Curry has a left hamstring strain and is out for remainder of Game 1 against Minnesota.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 7, 2025
The second half displayed much of the same energy for the Wolves. Down 20 points heading into the fourth quarter, they would find the ability to cut the deficit to nine with six minutes left, and also with 3:30 left.
At that point in the game, you have to play perfectly down the stretch, and the Wolves did not. When you leave no margin for error, oftentimes it doesn’t fall in your favor, especially given the championship organization on the other end of the floor.
To put it lightly, a regroup is needed. One of the more uninspiring performances in a while. The Wolves would finish the game shooting 39 percent from the field and 17 percent from deep. Anthony Edwards was their leading scorer with 23 points on 9-22 shooting.
Key Takeaways
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Offensive disaster
The Timberwolves certainly picked an interesting time for their worst offensive performance of the season.
The Wolves finished the first half with just 31 points, a franchise record for fewest points in a half. They did find a little bit more success in the second half, but it was too little, too late in a brutal Game 1 defeat.
One of the largest factors for the Wolves’ poor offense was their 3-point shooting. Following Game 5 against the Los Angeles Lakers that saw the Wolves shoot 7-47 from beyond the arc, the Wolves doubled down on their shooting woes, starting this game 0-16 from deep, finishing 5-29.
It wasn’t just a poor shooting night, as pretty much every aspect of the Timberwolves’ offense crashed and burned in Game 1. They shot under 40 percent from the field, had only 19 assists as a team, and turned the ball over 16 times, including seven in the second quarter, in which the Wolves scored only 11 total points.
When asked after the game if Chris Finch thought the Wolves mentally checked out at times, he had a pointed answer.
“Yeah sure. I absolutely saw that. We can’t have that. It starts with Ant. I thought he struggled and then you could just kind of see the light go out a little bit for a while. Then obviously we had to try to get him going in the second half. I think it was one of those games where he kind of came out with a predetermined mindset of what he was trying to do rather than just play the game that was in front of him.”
Edwards came to the podium later and was asked about his performance.
“I got everywhere I wanted to get. Just couldn’t finish. I think that was the only thing. I got everything I was looking for in the first half, I just couldn’t finish.”
When later asked about Finch’s comments on not setting the tone, Ant responded, “Nah. I feel like I played great defense, I just couldn’t do nothing on offense.”
Julius Randle laid out a similar sentiment with his answers to the media, saying, “I just think we didn’t play well, to be honest.”
Naz Reid echoed that statement when speaking on what the team needs to do differently heading into Game 2.
“Just kind of remember who we are as a team. You kind of have these types of games. We’ve had these games and moments throughout the season. It’s not like it’s foreign to any team. Just gotta stay even-keeled. It’s a series for a reason. We tricked this one off ourselves.”
The juxtaposition between the coach saying they needed to do a better job setting the tone, and the players saying they just need to play better is an interesting one. While both can certainly be true, one of those ideas will likely win out when the team sits down with the game film tomorrow at practice.
Mike Conley was asked in the locker room after the game what he expects to see from the Wolves on Thursday night for Game 2.
“I expect a response. We all felt like we played as bad as we could. Give them credit, but we weren’t there all the way. A lot of mental errors, a lot of mental mistakes and a lot of things we know we can change, so I think we’ll be ready.”
Until proven otherwise, the expectation should be that this team will respond in the proper way because they have done that all year. There have been countless points throughout the season where the Wolves have followed up a horrendous performance with one of their best, and this will likely be no different.
It isn’t really possible for any Game 2 to truly be a must-win, but the Wolves’ path toward winning this series becomes a whole lot more dicey if they are not able to respond with a solid performance in their next game.
Curry out with a hamstring injury
The biggest factor from Game 1 that will loom over the rest of the series is the injury status of Steph Curry. Early in the second quarter, Curry left the game with a hamstring injury that kept him out for the rest of the game. The Warriors were able to win the game without him, but now his status for the rest of the series is up in the air.
The Warriors are calling Steph Curry day-to-day with the hamstring strain. MRI tomorrow for further update. Kerr said Curry was “crushed” about the injury.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 7, 2025
Tomorrow’s MRI will reveal a lot about when Curry could potentially return, but a Grade 1 hamstring strain typically has a five to seven day return timetable, putting Curry’s return to the series around Games 4-6.
Speculating on the injury further would be premature, but if Curry is to miss significant time in this series, it cannot be overstated the level of impact that would have on both teams. The Warriors were able to win tonight without their superstar, but doing so again multiple times in this series would be a tall task.
If Curry can return sooner rather than later, the Warriors certainly looked like the better team through the first game. If not, that opens the door for the Timberwolves to rebound from a brutal Game 1 performance.
Up Next
A short rest to get things together as the Wolves will play Game 2 on Thursday at 7:30 PM CT, looking to tie the series at 1-1. Fans can watch the game airing on TNT.