Sports Mole previews Wednesday’s NBA clash between Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors, including predictions, team news and form guides.

The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors will both be looking to kick off their Western Conference semi-final matchup with a win when they go head to head at Target Center on Wednesday.

The hosts needed just five matches to get past the Los Angeles Lakers in round one, while the away side saw off the Houston Rockets in seven games to become the first number seven seed to eliminate the number two seed since 1984.

Match preview

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Going up against the combined firepower of LeBron James and Luka Doncic, the Minnesota Timberwolves were tipped by many to have a hard time dealing with the Lakers, but that proved to be far from the case, as shown by the evidence of their 4-1 series victory.

Chris Finch’s men split the first two games at Crypto.com Arena but took control of proceedings by winning both games on home court to take a 3-1 lead, which has previously only been usurped 13 times.

The leader of perhaps the most iconic comeback in NBA history, LeBron James, was powerless to stop the Timberwolves from completing the job in Thursday’s Game Five, where they saw off the Lakers for the second straight match in Los Angeles courtesy of a 103-96 triumph.

Fuelled by the added motivation of going up against his former side, Julius Randle was on song for the Timberwolves throughout the series, averaging 22.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists on 48% shooting from the field.

While Anthony Edwards endured a relatively underwhelming display in the closeout contest, he still tallied a team-high 26.8 points per game and will need to come to the fore for his side once again.

Having lost each of their last three meetings against the Warriors, Wednesday’s hosts will be aiming to reclaim the upper hand in this fixture after coming out on top in each of the five meetings prior.

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The Golden State Warriors undeniably made things more complicated than necessary for themselves in their first-round series against the Houston Rockets, but in the end, the feeling of relief overshadowed any pre-game nerves.

From a position of comfort, Steve Kerr’s men had blown a 3-1 advantage and headed into Monday’s Game Seven at Toyota Center eager to avoid a repeat of their 2016 capitulation against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With much of the attention on the likes of Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler, it was Buddy Hield who walked away from Houston as the match winner with a 33-point salvo, including 9-11 shooting from three-point land to lead his side to a 103-89 win.

Back in the second round for the first time since 2023, when they lost to the Lakers, the Warriors will now continue their quest for a championship against a Timberwolves outfit who have been making waves in the West of late.

As they prepare to take to the court barely 48 hours after a thrilling victory in Houston, Wednesday’s visitors have a limited window of recovery before heading back on the road for another crunch encounter.

Minnesota Timberwolves NBA Playoffs form:

Golden State Warriors NBA Playoffs form:

Team News

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Gary Payton II did not play any part in the Warriors’ most recent outing due to illness, and the veteran guard remains a major fitness doubt for Wednesday’s trip.

Bouncing back from a shambolic Game Six outing where he failed to score a single point, Buddy Hield delivered one of the most iconic Game Seven performances of all time on Monday.

Twenty-year-old Rob Dillingham has not featured for the Minnesota Timberwolves in their playoff journey so far as he continues to battle with an ankle problem.

Aside from that, the home side have everyone fit and available to go as they set out to reach the conference finals for a second consecutive campaign.