{"id":61301,"date":"2025-05-14T07:56:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T07:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=61301"},"modified":"2025-05-14T07:56:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T07:56:52","slug":"how-warriors-offensive-slump-in-timberwolves-series-have-title-hopes-on-life-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=61301","title":{"rendered":"How Warriors\u2019 offensive slump in Timberwolves’ series have title hopes on life support"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"JimmyIt’s easy to say Jimmy Butler needs to hunt his shot more when looking at the Golden State Warriors’ dreadful offensive woes without Stephen Curry versus the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

Sure, only nine shot attempts from Butler in a must-win Game 4 situation to avoid falling behind 3-1 is not ideal. And maybe there were opportunities where Butler could have been more aggressive with getting his individual offense going. But as Steve Kerr pointed out after the 117-110 loss to the Wolves, it’s asking a lot of Butler to take on this defense when the spacing isn’t right.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Butler] wasn\u2019t as aggressive tonight,\u201d Kerr said after Game 4. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t see a lot of openings either. Ideally, we could put more shooting around him to open up the floor a little bit. But with Steph out, we\u2019re not going to be able to do as much of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Warriors’ offensive struggles don’t start with Butler’s subdued shot hunting. He got the Dubs’ 33 points in a tightly contested Game 3, and the team still lost. It starts with the fact that the players the Warriors have depended on to space the floor are in a deep shooting slump.<\/p>\n

\"How
Thomas Shea-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taking stock Warriors’ theoretical shooters<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Other than Curry, who’s been unavailable this series, and Buddy Hield, the Warriors are a team built on theoretical shooters. When those shooters are on, they’ve looked like a championship-level team. When they aren’t, they’ve struggled to reach 100 points in a lot of these games.<\/p>\n

To put it bluntly, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, and Quentin Post haven’t been able to knock down enough jumpers in this series. These three young role players were a big part of the Dubs’ post-trade deadline surge because of their shooting. But other than Podziemski’s six 3s and 26 points in Game 4 of the Houston Rockets series, their shooting has evaporated.<\/p>\n

In this series, Podziemski’s shooting 17.6% from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Moody and Post have been borderline unplayable due to their poor shooting in the Rockets series, with only two made 3s between the two of them. They’re all young and untested in the playoffs, but the Warriors knew they’d need to rely on their shooting entering the postseason. And while there were encouraging signs they’d be able to sustain that hot shooting, they haven’t. Which is why, even without Curry, the Warriors are down 3-1.<\/p>\n

It’s a strange situation the Warriors have found themselves in. While their theoretical shooters have struggled mightily this series, their interior threats have looked great versus the Wolves. Jonathan Kuminga and Trayce Jackson-Davis, two players who fell out of the Dubs’ rotation before this series, have been great. Even Kevon Looney found some buckets here and there on the offensive boards.<\/p>\n

\n

Related Golden State Warriors NewsArticle continues below<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But as much as their scoring has been needed, it doesn’t solve the Warriors’ lack of spacing issues. Because when Kerr is forced to play lineups where Hield is the only genuine 3-point threat next to Butler, Minnesota’s more than willing to load up on Butler. Whether that’s stunting a second guy at Butler’s drives, or collapsing in on him when he gets into the center of the defense, the Wolves are daring anyone else to beat them.<\/p>\n

\"How
Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Where does the Dubs’ offense go from here?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

However, if the Warriors want to get back in this series, it starts with everyone being more decisive. Among the playoff teams still remaining, the Dubs have the most shot clock violations with 17 this postseason. Those shot clock violations come down to the Warriors turning down open looks. And this doesn’t even include the possessions where one Warrior tosses a hand-grenade pass to another at the end of the shot clock.<\/p>\n

The Dubs have been passive without Curry, and they know it. Draymond Green talked about that problem in his post-game press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has to shoot,\u201d Green said. \u201cYou get the opening, you gotta let it go. I think sometimes we\u2019re passing some up. Without Steph, at times, the first good look will be the best look. When you\u2019ve got Steph out there, you can turn down looks because\u2026 he causes so many dominoes to fall. But when he\u2019s not, you turn down that first open look, it may not open up again.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they’ll have to figure that out without Curry once again. With the two-time MVP ruled out of Game 5, the shorthanded Warriors face elimination on the road in Minnesota. It may be too late to fix the offense and save the season. But crazier things have happened, and that usually starts with shooters catching fire.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a series of rough offensive showings, the Warriors need to get their shooters going in order to salvage the Timberwolves series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":61302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9,1733,10,146,45,1759,1630,1736,96],"class_list":["post-61301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-draymond-green","tag-editorials","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-nba","tag-nba-editorials","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-reporting","tag-steve-kerr"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Warriors\u2019 offensive slump in Timberwolves' series have title hopes on life support - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=61301\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Warriors\u2019 offensive slump in Timberwolves' series have title hopes on life support - 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