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In a game where the Golden State Warriors desperately needed Jonathan Kuminga, he delivered everything Steve Kerr, his teammates, the organization, and the fan base wanted from him. He was decisive on offense, engaged on defense, ran the floor well, and provided the Warriors a lifeline with his scoring. With 30 points and six rebounds on an uber-efficient 11-of-18 shooting from the field, Kuminga rose to the occasion despite the recent ups and downs with his playing time.
But the fourth-year forward's career night wasn't enough for the Dubs. A late fourth-quarter collapse doomed the Warriors as they fell 102-97 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3. Despite Kuminga's 30 points and Jimmy Butler's 33 points, the Warriors' offense slowed to a halt, and Anthony Edwards punished their inability to execute in the half court.
With 1:19 left in the game, the rising superstar delivered Chase Center a dagger not dissimilar to a classic Stephen Curry “Night Night.” After Buddy Hield missed a heavily contested 3-pointer, the Wolves ran the break and found Edwards in the corner. Edwards missed the shot, but Rudy Gobert soared in for the offensive rebound. This got Ant another opportunity, and he didn't waste another wide-open corner triple. Up seven, the Wolves finished off the Warriors' upset bid and took a big 2-1 lead in the series.
Still, Kerr gave Kuminga his flowers for the best game of his young career in his postgame press conference.
“He was brilliant,” Kerr said. “JK played one of the best games of his life. It was fantastic to see, and you could see how necessary he is in this matchup, especially without Steph. We're having a tough time, without him, getting free. And [Kuminga's] obviously capable of getting us some points, getting to the rim. I thought he was fantastic … I've been so impressed with the way he's handled things the last couple of weeks. The way he's stayed ready and put in the work. And it paid off tonight.
How Warriors lost this game in clutch
While Anthony Edwards demonstrated why he's one of the league's rising superstars, with 28 of his 36 points coming in the second half, this game was winnable. Specifically, two critical inflection points in the last six minutes of this game negatively affected the Warriors' chances to take Game 3.
The first was Draymond Green fouling out of this game in the span of back-to-back possessions. He collected his fifth foul after the Wolves challenged a Julius Randle shooting foul on Kuminga. The officials saw that Green had grabbed Randle before the shot went up. After that, Green got caught in an awkward closeout on Jaden McDaniels, where he picked up his sixth foul.
While this was certainly a frustrating stretch for anyone involved with the Warriors, both fouls were legit by the letter of the law. And while it's understandable how Green's heated emotions of the reversed challenge call snowballed into his sixth, Green fouling out cannot happen, especially considering the thin margin of error to begin with.
The second inflection point came when Butler did not get the ball in any of the important possessions in the last two minutes. Kerr's comments on Butler's performance in the same press conference summed up what went wrong, plain and simple.
“Jimmy was incredible,” Kerr said. “He really controlled the game for us — put us in a position to win and we couldn’t close it out.”
All game long, the Warriors tailored their offense toward an old-school approach: putting Butler on the block on the low post. Good things happened when Butler had the ball in that spot. Whether it was putting Edwards in the spin cycle or finding Kuminga cutting to the rim, Butler was surgical with the ball in his hands.
But the Warriors could not get Butler the ball when it mattered, which was tough to see even as he struggled to finish in the fourth quarter (1-of-7 shooting in the final frame). Yes, Hield hit a huge trey to cut the lead to four on a play called specifically for him. But on the following play, he bit off more than he could with a top-of-the-key contested 3-ball. And on the next offensive possession, the Warriors turned the ball over on a Kevon Looney moving screen.
Chalk it up to several factors. The Warriors' playcalling, the Timberwolves' stingy defense, the players' execution — there's a collection of reasons why the Warriors got out-executed down the stretch of this game. None of that matters moving forward, as long as the Dubs correct it. It's just difficult to lose a game when a lot of things went correctly up until that point, especially with Curry out with a hamstring.
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Warriors' mindset going into Game 4
Despite the close loss, the Warriors aren't panicking. As a team led by some of the most accomplished people in NBA history, they've earned that assured mindset.
After the game, Kerr was confident in his team following the Game 3 loss.
“The team defense was really good. They held them to 102 — that’s a pretty good number,” Kerr said. He was then asked about what has to go right in Game 4 to tie the series. “Not that much really. We’re right there. We feel great about our chances. This is what the playoffs are all about — there are these emotional swings and momentum shifts.”
Butler, while also confident of the team's chances in Game 4, focused on Kuminga's big night.
“It’s a beautiful sight to see. But like I tell everybody, me and him can thrive together,” Butler said. “We talk, we listen to one another, and then he has an incredible game like tonight. He did so many good things out there on the floor, and I know he’s gonna be a huge part of us winning on Monday.”
It's as Kerr and Butler stated. If there are two positive takeaways from this game, it was the Dubs' defense and Kuminga's offensive fit with Butler. But as this game proved, the Warriors have no room for error. A couple of bad plays completely took this game out of the Dubs' hands. They cannot afford Green fouling out again, nor another fourth-quarter collapse. They have to be close to perfect in Game 4, especially without Curry. Butler understands that, as he said in the same press conference.
“When Steph’s not on the floor, there’s no room for error. You can’t make mistakes, you can’t turn the ball over, you can’t give back all of those things. And then you’ve got to take the right shots.”
It's a essentially must-win situation for the Warriors in Game 4.
