Warriors' four keys to the series win against Timberwolves – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

Minneapolis – The Warriors needed seven games to go through the Houston Rockets and come to the second round of the NBA playoffs, where they will compete against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Target Center from Tuesday evening.

These two teams played four times in the regular season, and the Warriors took on three games. But there is not so much to take on these games.

Her last matchup was on January 15, when Steph Curry was accompanied by Dennis Schroder, Andrew Wiggins, Gui Santos and Trayce Jackson-Davis. A lot has changed since then. None of the four games were by the Warriors after Jimmy Butler was taken over.

This series will be full of action again.

Butler versus a former team that he does not recognize. The long -standing beef between Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert. Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards tries to kill Curry as the possible next face of the league. The warriors will be happy to see Donte Divincenzo, who also spent a season with them.

Here are four keys to warriors No. 7 seeds, which receive four victories against No. 6-Samen-Timberwolves.

At least the first two parts

Lower seeds decided the beginning of the conference semi -final. The Indiana Pacers were all surprised by defeating the best Cleveland Cavaliers in the East to open their series, and both the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets to achieve comebacks to achieve game 1 victories. The warriors hope to keep the trend between outsiders.

It will take more than just your stars. The Warriors' role players have to keep their own to open the series. Curry played 46 minutes on Sunday, Butler played 45 and Green 40. Brandin Podziemski also played 40 and Buddy Hield played 37.

Kerr used four players from the bank, and most of the minutes that a reserve received was 11. On Tuesday evening, she was expecting much more from a regular season rotation before increasing the ante on Thursday evening in game 2. There is no way that Kerr will bring a 37-year-old curry and two 35-year-olds to the ground in game 1 in game 1.

“Feel pretty good,” said Curry at Shootaround on Tuesday. “We went through it. The tank in game 7 empty like you, but it is nice to keep a rhythm. We played every second day in the last few weeks and a half, so we have a good understanding of how we can recover, the mind and body for another challenge for another challenge. Game 1s are always interesting.

With only one day of rest, Tuesday could look like a planned loss for Warriors. It will not be when the role players rise. Regardless of whether it is the first game or the second of round 2, the Warriors cannot go home to bring centers down in two games.

Draymonds best

From start to finish, Green was absolutely locked up for the victory of the Warriors' Game 7 in Houston. It all started the evening before with a speech to the Warrior team, the responsibility for his poor attitude and lost his attitude in the previous game. Nothing could rattle him to end the series and end the Rockets season.

The Warriors will need this version of Green against the Timberwolves, especially in the fight against Gobert. Both teams know their history, as well as the fans and referees. Everyone will be sensitive to a wrong train.

“I have to keep it similar to my boys and forget everyone else,” said Green after game 7 in relation to his way of thinking for this upcoming series. “But for my boys I have to stay that way. So I will be locked up. It will be good.

“Finding the balance, finding this line but not crossing is important for me and this team. I gave you my word and I will continue to give you my word.”

He has to stick to this promise. Green was challenged in the first round for four technical fouls and two obvious fouls. Reaching seven technicians or four flagrants points leads to a one-game lock.

Each game is a possible defense clinic when there is green on the floor. The Warriors will need this against another much larger team that has a real offensive firepower. But you will also need his offensive aggression. That was at the top of the list of keys in the Warriors, which demonstrate the rockets in Houston.

Green in game 7 achieved 16 points with 15 attempts to shoot. His 15 shot attempts have been his since she scored 21 points against Toronto Raptors 18 on March 20, 18. Green once did not achieve two numbers, and his offensive aggressiveness was a big difference.

Win the 3-point line

Here is how different the warriors and rockets are offensive: the Warriors tried 104 threesome than they in their series with seven games and made 34 more. They tripled the 3-point edition of the Rockets in game 7 and made 18 threesome in his home square compared to six for Houston. There will be no such big discrepancy with the timberwolves.

While the Warriors made fourth place in 3-in-house season in the regular season (15.4), the Timberwolves took fifth (15.0). The Timberwolves made their threes in a high clip and turned 37.7 percent as a team that took fourth place in NBA. In their first round, they shot only 32.3 percent against the Los Angeles Lakers, although this was largely due to the fact that they were missing in game 5 17 successive threes and a total of 7 out of 37, but still found one way to win 24 rebounds behind Gobert's.

“This is a focus area,” said Moses Moody at Shootaround. “Change your focus areas with a team that does not attack the 3-point line as much as a team. To have only your antennas, guard the three in different actions and know that this will be a factor.”

Yes, the timber wolves like the rockets are much larger than the warriors. Curry also struck this roughly beyond the arc and shot 45.8 percent against Minnesota in the regular season.

Ant-Man contains

He is already one of the biggest stars of the NBA at the age of 23. After defeating Lebron James and the Lakers in the first round, this could be the superstar moment of Edwards if he plays curry and brought up to a second conference final in a row. And he knows.

Edwards, since he was number 1 in the draft of 2020, was one of the best athletes in the game. Its characteristic shoes can grow for a poster stunk at any time. He finds another equipment and gets in overdrive in no time at all. He also changed his offensive arsenal this season.

In his first three seasons, Edwards achieved an average of 7.4 3-point attempts per game, including a career low 6.7 last season. After Edwards was nearby at Curry last summer at the Olympic Games in Paris, he made a big leap as an external shooter and an average of 10.3 3-point attempts in the regular season, the second most common in the NBA. He took most of the three (811) in the NBA and made most of them (320).

Is his ability to get into the basket or its progress as a 3-point threat, the greater focus for the warriors?

“All above,” says Curry. “He looks out of three because they have to respect the journey, and when they push on the edge, he can exercise the ball on the edge. He has the ball in his hands.

“He is tough and we cannot be discouraged when he gets hot. It is exactly what great players do.”

Gary Payton II, the best on-ball defender of the Golden State, missed the game 7 on Sunday due to a bad illness. He was not at Shootaround this morning, but was on Tuesday morning before game 1 and was questioned all day. It may be butler to start the game, Payton, or moody, green and even curry. Whoever it is, the warriors have to make Edwards as uncomfortable as possible.

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