Timberwolves welcome bad news: Edwards leaves the field with injury! Green punches Reed, Cole sets record 14-man rotation

Editor|Lao Kankanqiu

On May 9, the second round of the 2024-25 NBA playoffs ushered in the focus of the Western Conference. The Minnesota Timberwolves continued to sit at home and face the Golden State Warriors. Surprisingly, the Timberwolves G1, who had a good rest, suffered a big defeat and is currently behind the Warriors with a big score of 0-1 in the series. However, for the Warriors, although they won the away game of G1, the team's core Curry unexpectedly suffered a left hamstring strain. According to the latest injury report released by the Warriors, Curry will be absent for at least one week and is likely to miss three consecutive games of G2/G3/G4. This is indeed a huge challenge for the Warriors. Before the game, US media ESPN also gave a prediction of the winning rate of this game: the Timberwolves' winning rate rose to 56.5%, while the Warriors' winning rate continued to drop to 43.5%. Obviously, ESPN is still optimistic that the Timberwolves can tie the big score to 1-1. In this game, in terms of starting, Curry was absent due to injury, and Cole's starting five-man lineup was: Post, Buddy Hilder, Gary Payton II, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green; on the Timberwolves, Dillingham continued to be absent, and the starting lineup was: Conley, Edwards, McDaniels, Randle, and Gobert.

The first quarter started, with McDan and Old Conley making three-pointers in a row, and the Timberwolves took the lead 8-0 at the start and stopped the Warriors. Hilder received a three-pointer and made a series of blacksmiths. The Warriors made 0 of 5 points. Randall passed the dream and faced Hilder and scored 2+1. The Timberwolves led by 13 points. Payton Jr. still missed a three-pointer with a big open position in the bottom corner, and the Warriors didn't score in more than 5 minutes at the beginning.

Butler finally made a three-pointer against Gobert, and then scored a mid-range goal, scoring 5 points per person, breaking the team's scoring drought. Gobert made a bizarre mistake in stealing a one-stop stealing, Moody's counterattack and threw three times without any trouble. Kuming strengthened the surprise foul and smiled, and then missed two free throws, all of them were comedians. Edwards and Reed made consecutive three-pointers, and the Timberwolves widened the gap to 18 points. Zhu Mengdao received the ball with a three-pointer and made a steadily shot. After the first quarter, the Warriors temporarily trailed the Timberwolves 15-29 14 points. In the first quarter, Edwards made 2 of 6, 1 of 2 three-pointers and 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.

Back in the second quarter, the Timberwolves grabbed offensive rebounds in a row, and Walker scored a second offense to lead to 16 points. Cole continued to try the lineup and replaced TJD& Knox. As many as 13 people have rotated in this game, which is indeed very rare in the playoffs. Green made a foul with a three-pointer, and the continuous action hit Reed in the face. After watching the video, the referee gave Green a technical foul. The latter was dissatisfied with the referee and was pulled by Curry and Cole. Hilde made a low-level mistake when he returned to the court, and Podjemsky passed the ball directly out of bounds. The Warriors had made 7 turnovers &, scoring only 19 points in one and a half quarter.

Then an unexpected accident occurred. Edwards was accidentally injured by TJD when he landed on the ground. After falling to the ground, he covered his ankle for a long time, and his expression was very painful. Then he limped and was helped by the assistant teacher to return to the locker room for examination. I hope it would be fine. Randall pushed Moody's defense at the basket, turned around and made a basket and scored easily, and the Timberwolves led to the highest 22 points in the game. Butler's all-around assist Flying TJD dunked with both hands, and the Warriors' team has only scored 22 points. Kumingga finally made a mid-range shot near the free throw line. Green stole the ball and threw it straight to the frontcourt. Hilder received the ball and made a layup, causing Divincenzo to interfere with the ball, and the Warriors scored a 7-0 climax and chased to a 15-point difference.

Kele replaced Keane, the last team in the team again before the end of the half. The Warriors played in this game except Curry, and 14 players revolved in the game. At the end of the half, the Warriors trailed the Timberwolves 17 points 39-56.

Halftime data, on the Warriors, Kumingga played for 8 minutes, 5 of 5 shots and 10 points; Butler played for 17 minutes, 2 of 5 shots, 1 of 1 three-pointer, 1 of 1 three-pointer, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal; Pojemsky played for 18 minutes, 2 of 7 shots and 1 of 1 rebound, 2 assists and 1 steal; Hilder played for 13 minutes, 2 of 7 shots and 1 of 4 three-pointer, 5 points, 1 of 4 shots and 1 of 5 points, 1 of 2 shots and 1 of 4 shots and 1 of 5 points.

It is worth mentioning that Green has received 5 technical fouls in the playoffs, and he will be suspended for one game after another two times.

On the Timberwolves, Edwards retreated due to injury, made 2 of 7 shots, 1 of 2 three-pointers, scored 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block; Randall made 6 of 11 in the half, scored 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists; McDaniels made 4 of 6, 1 of 1 three-pointer, scored 10 points, 1 steal and 3 blocks.