Subscribe
Follow Us
Many were worried about how much physical toll the Golden State Warriors' first-round series against the Houston Rockets exacted on the team's best players. Stephen Curry, as great as he is, is no spring chicken at 37 years old, and he exited Game 1 of the Warriors' second-round matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first quarter after suffering a hamstring injury, ruling him out for the rest of the contest.
While the Warriors will be very proud of themselves that they managed to steal Game 1 on the road, 99-88, there will be plenty of concern regarding Curry's physical well-being and what a potential extended absence from the 37-year-old star would mean for their chances of making it to the next round.
All the Warriors can do is hope for the best with regards to Curry's MRI results, as Jimmy Butler couldn't have put better just how much Curry means to the team's championship hopes.
“We want Steph back, I'll tell you that. It's hard to play without that man. But we got one on the road, came here to do what we got to do,” Butler told Lauren Jbara of TNT during his postgame interview. “Steph is our best player, and the game is much easier when we've got him.”
"We want Steph back, I'll tell you that… Steph is our best player, and the game is much easier when we've got him."
Jimmy Butler after the Warriors' Game 1 win over the Timberwolves 🗣️pic.twitter.com/iFrSCjO2xG
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 7, 2025
Indeed, Game 1 of the series was such a slugfest, and it required the effort of the entire team for the Warriors to hold off the Timberwolves. Golden State even had to run an 11-man rotation, cobbling together whatever combination they thought was going to work as they looked to finish the job with Curry nursing a worrying hamstring injury.
Article Continues Below
Hamstring injuries are very tricky to deal with, and it looks like Curry will be on the sidelines for Game 2 of the Warriors-Timberwolves series. But Jimmy Butler and company have more than enough to try and hold the fort as they buy enough time for their best player to recuperate.
Warriors must brace for positive Timberwolves shooting regression
The Timberwolves didn't exactly shoot the ball well in their closeout Game 5 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the previous round, so it did not exactly come as a huge surprise when they went frigid from beyond the arc for the greater part of Game 1 against the Warriors. But they have so much talent on the roster to be shooting 17.2 percent from beyond the arc (5-29) moving forward.
The Warriors must display the same level of grit they had in Game 1; they outrebounded the Timberwolves, 51-41, and forced them into plenty of difficult shots. The only way for them to have a chance at winning Game 2 (if they do end up playing without Stephen Curry) is to muck up the game and make it a low-scoring slugfest akin to two exhausted heavyweights trading unguarded blows in the middle of the ring in the 11th round.
