Golden State Warriors will have to find a new winning formula against Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3

SAN FRANCISCO – The Minnesota Timberwolves hope their third California adventure of the post-season proves to be as fruitful as the first two when they tip off a two-game sequence of the play-offs against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco on May 10 (May 11, Singapore time).

The teams are scheduled for Game 3 on May 10 and Game 4 on May 12 in the best-of-seven series, with the sides each having won a game when the National Basketball Association Western Conference semi-finals opened in Minneapolis earlier in the week.

As the sixth seeds in the West, the Timberwolves were the underdogs when they began their first-round series with a road win over the third-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in April.

Minnesota came away from the trip with a split, then never lost again in a 4-1 elimination of the Lakers, a three-game winning streak that included a clinching victory back in Los Angeles in Game 5.

The upset win earned the Timberwolves the home-court advantage over the Warriors, who also pulled a first-round surprise as the West’s No. 7 seeds, outlasting the Houston Rockets in seven games.

When last seen at home, Golden State blew a chance to wrap up the first-round series in six games, dropping a 115-107 decision to the second-seeded Rockets on May 2.

The Warriors have been on the road ever since, having returned to Houston for a successful Game 7 before heading straight to Minneapolis for Games 1 and 2.

Similarly against the Rockets, Golden State gained an immediate upper hand against the Timberwolves with a 99-88 road win on May 6. But they lost star guard Stephen Curry to a strained left hamstring in the process.

Curry, who sat out the May 8 117-93 loss in the rematch at Minnesota, already has been ruled out of Games 3 and 4. He is scheduled to be re-evaluated on the eve of Game 5 when the clubs return to the Timberwolves’ home floor.

If there was a positive to the May 8 blowout, it was that Warriors coach Steve Kerr was able to experiment with different combinations in an effort to find new sources of production that could help minimise the impact of Curry being out.

Jonathan Kuminga, who saw action in just three of the seven games in the Houston series, hit eight of 11 shots in an 18-point, eye-catching performance. Trayce Jackson-Davis, who left the bench for just 24 minutes against the Rockets, chipped in with 15 points and six rebounds.

“There’s no Steph. It’s a completely different team. Everything has to be about finding a new formula, and JK (Kuminga) is absolutely a part of that formula,” Kerr said on May 9 when asked if he had rotation changes in mind for Game 3 at Chase Centre.

Continuing the thought, he added: “(Jackson-Davis) showed he can be effective against this team.”

Meanwhile, Minnesota coach Chris Finch insisted the best thing that happened in Game 2 was when star Anthony Edwards, who went to the locker room after suffering an injury to his left ankle in the second quarter, returned to the line-up after half-time.

“There’s lots of ways being an elite athlete pays off. Being able to shake those things off certainly is one of them. I was really planning on not seeing him the rest of the game,” he noted.

Edwards was not listed on the Timberwolves’ injury report posted on May 9. REUTERS

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