Without Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors surrendered Game 2 in a 117-93 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Curry suffered a left hamstring strain in Game 1 and his availability for the rest of the Western Conference semifinal series looks bleak. After Thursday's loss, Kerr offered some transparency into how challenging leading the shorthanded Warriors amid their second-round series.
Kerr addressed the team's hurdles during his postgame media availability, per 95.7 The Game.
“I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know. You can always play through Jimmy. He's a great isolation player, great passer. It's more about figuring out who to put around him and who's going to be playing in Game 3. What our rotation is going to look like. It's not as simple as Steph's out, so we just replace him with one person. The domino effect of Steph being out led to Trayce playing tonight because we needed the scoring. We needed the finishing and you saw what he did out there. Same with J.K.
“We had found a formula over the last couple of months and obviously we were having lots of success. But without Steph, the formula completely goes out the window, and we've got to figure out the next formula,” Kerr concluded.
"It's not as simple as Steph's out, so we just replace him with one person. The domino effect of Steph being out led to Trayce playing tonight because we needed the scoring… We had found a formula over the last couple of months.. But without Steph,the formula completely goes… pic.twitter.com/KEYD9JkJ7s
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) May 9, 2025
Jonathan Kuminga's 18 points led the Warriors' bench. Trayce Jackson-Davis added 15 and six rebounds. Kerr says he leaned on his bench players to step up rather than overwork starters Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, per The Athletic's Anthony Slater.
“I didn’t want to push it with Draymond or Jimmy. I didn’t want to chase this game unless it was really gettable,” Kerr said. “We obviously made a push in the second half but first half we went into the game thinking we're playing a lot of people short-burst minutes, and trying to protect Draymond and Jimmy — they've been playing huge minutes every other day.”
Steve Kerr: “I didn’t want to push it with Draymond or Jimmy. I didn’t want to chase this game unless it was really gettable.” pic.twitter.com/3veo8iGLTT
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 9, 2025
Butler says he's confident in playing alongside Kuminga in Game 3, where the Warriors will look to take a 2-1 lead.
Steve Kerr on leading the Stephen Curry-less Warriors

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr says his All-Star Stephen Curry has made his presence felt alongside his teammates. Despite being unable to impact the game from a physical standpoint, Curry's been vocal with players from the bench, per 95.7 The Game.
“He was great. He sat a couple of seats down. We were talked a couple of times during the game and he was talking to all the players,” Kerr said. “I don't know exactly what he was saying to the guys, but it's very comforting having him on the bench for our guys.”
Steve Kerr on Steph Curry: "He was great.. It was very comforting having him on the bench for our guys." pic.twitter.com/I4DJze5m6n
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) May 9, 2025
The Warriors will host the Timberwolves for Game 3 on Saturday.