Fresh off their win over the Houston Rockets in Game 7, Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors have a quick turnaround for Game 1 of their second round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The big keys for the Warriors in the first series will be magnified in their second series, given the size that the Wolves present.
Rockets series prepared Warriors for Timberwolves, says Steve Kerr
During their first round series, the Warriors had to face a tall Rockets lineup featuring Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams. The two centers were formidable, nearly leading Houston to a comeback from down 3-1 in Game 7.
Sengun and Adams played 93 minutes together across the seven game series, with Houston outscoring the Warriors by 32 points in those minutes. The Rockets boasted a 110.4 offensive rating and an 89.8 defensive rating with those two together, which meant they outscored the Warriors by 20.6 points per 100 possessions.
Additionally, Houston had offensive rebounds on 42.7% of their possessions and defensive rebounds on 75 percent of their possessions.
Since the Minnesota Timberwolves present similar issues with their big man trio of Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid, Steve Kerr says the Rockets prepared the Warriors for what’s to come with the Wolves.
“I think it does [prepare us],” Kerr said Monday during a video conference at the team’s hotel before Game 1. “One of the things that was so obvious in that Houston series was that if we didn’t scrap for every loose ball and every rebound, that we were in some trouble.
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“The same concept is going to apply here. Minnesota is a big, athletic team — a lot bigger than us. They’re going to be all over the offensive glass and we have to fight and claw for every rebound, every loose ball. If that’s our mentality, then I like our chances.”
The Warriors and Timberwolves played four times this season, with Golden State winning three of the four matchups. The biggest takeaway from those games, however, is that all four took place by January 15th, which was prior to the Jimmy Butler trade the Warriors pulled off at the NBA’s February trade deadline.
Steve Kerr said he was able to watch the tape, but doesn’t take too much away from it given how long ago it was and how different his team looks now.
“It was interesting watching some of those games on the flight up. Seeing the matchups, seeing the roster, its an entirely different team. The main points i think from watching those games was it was more individual matchups, what it looked like, depending on who guards [Anthony Edwards] for example, who guards [Julius] Randle. They’re valuable tapes to watch based on personnel, but we are an entirely different team now, so there’s only so much you can take form them.”
From February 13th to the end of the season, the Warriors had the third best record in the NBA at 21-7, behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder (24-5) and the Boston Celtics (22-5).
Gary Payton II is the only player listed on the Warriors injury report for Game 1 with an illness. He was forced to miss Game 7 against the Rockets with the same illness on Sunday. Rob Dillingham is the only player on the Timberwolves injury report for Tuesday night.
Game 1 between the Warriors and Timberwolves will tip off at 9:30PM EST on TNT.
