Julius Randle scored 24 points and collected 11 assists while the Minnesota Timberwolves withdrew for a 117-93 victory against the Golden State Warriors in match 2 of their semi-final series of the Western Conference Thursday evening in Minneapolis.
Anthony Edwards added 20 points and nine rebounds for Minnesota, which equalized the seven best series at 1-1. Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 20 points on the bench, and Jaden McDaniels finished with 16 points on a shot of 7 by 10.
Jonathan Kuminga scored 18 points on a shot of 8 for 11 to lead the Warriors. Jimmy Butler III collected 17 points to accompany seven rebounds.
Warriors goalkeeper Stephen Curry watched the match in street clothes on the bench. The competition marked the first eliminatory match of Golden State without Curry, which injured its left hamstrings in match 1 and should miss at least a week.
The Timberwolves overcome a fear of injuries to Edwards in match 2. Their top scorer during the regular season slowly drowned on the ground after having injured the left ankle in the second quarter, but he returned to start the second half.
Golden State pulled in the 62-55 starting the third quarter on a sequence of 16-6. Buddy Hield punctuated the race with a 3 -point pointer on a decisive pass from Brandin Podziemski.
Minnesota responded with a sequence of 18-5 later in the third quarter to restore control. Alexander-Walker buried a 3 points in the left wing to put the Timberwolves at the top 83-63 with 27.1 seconds to play in the period.
Timberwolves regulars looked at the last minutes of the bench with the outlet score. Reserves such as Terrence Shannon Jr., Josh Minott and Leonard Miller marked in the last two minutes.
The Timberwolves led 56-39 to half.
Minnesota began the match on a sequence of 25-7. Edwards drained a pointer at 3 and Alexander-Walker added a panel in two points to put the Timberwolves at the top of 18 with 2:36 to play in the first quarter.
The frustrations went up for Golden State in the second quarter. Draymond Green attracted a technical fault after Swat has Naz Reid on a physical game, and Green gave managers a ear before the Warriors coach banished him so that he could calm his emotions.
– field level media
