2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #6 Minnesota Timberwolves vs #7 Golden State Warriors (GSW leads 1-0)

[cupcakesnake]

I think Jalen Williams should have been DPOY.
His help defense is is at an insane level. Like Robert Covington level, but J.Dub is a way better man-to-man defender than RoCo. He's simpy the best perimeter helper in the league, while being a strong rim protector, and guarding solidly across 5 positions. I know people have started to notice more this year, but I don't think enough people realize how ridiculous that defense be.

[TimberKat]

Why are we talking Thunder here Wolves fans? Are we looking pass GWS already

[life_saver]

Just like the Houston series, this is about youth/athleticism vs experience. Now this time, will the youth/athleticism be too much or the old heads still hang on to the thread? Warriors in 7 but up next, OKC will be too much in the end.

Difference between Houston and Minnesota experience level is one was watching the playoffs from home last season and the other beat KD/Booker and Jokic on the way to the western conference finals.

I understand but it's still about match ups. Why did Luka make quick work of the same impressive team last year?

Luka was excellent but 4 of the 5 games in those series was close games...Wolves role players mostly did their job in that series but the biggest problem was that KAT stunk up in that series...Ant also struggled a bit offensively. Mavs rim protection gave Wolves issues.

[f4p]

Man I don't care how old KD and Bron were. Ant is putting together an impressive resume in regards to eliminating some of the best players in NBA history:
- KD & Book
- Jokic & Murray
- Luka & Bron

and now potentially Steph & Jimmy

Why would you not care how old they are? That's entirely why he's knocking them out, lol. And of course he knocked jokic out shooting 6 for 24.

[TimberKat]

Difference between Houston and Minnesota experience level is one was watching the playoffs from home last season and the other beat KD/Booker and Jokic on the way to the western conference finals.

I understand but it's still about match ups. Why did Luka make quick work of the same impressive team last year?

Luka was excellent but 4 of the 5 games in those series was close games...Wolves role players mostly did their job in that series but the biggest problem was that KAT stunk up in that series...Ant also struggled a bit offensively. Mavs rim protection gave Wolves issues.

Why are we still talking last year's team? Is the GSW last year's Dallas? This year's Wolves team is very different and more experienced. I just find it amusing that some people still use last year's DAL loss as reference point. What about the Wolves team that couldn't make it out of first round against DEN two years ago?

[Movics]

Why are we talking Thunder here Wolves fans? Are we looking pass GWS already

Wolves in 6 this series, Wolves in 5 against Denver and New York.

[durden_tyler]

Warriors +7.0 vs the Wolves in Game 1.

All three (big) ' dogs covered the spread AND straight-up won their games this Conference Sernis. Will Golden State make it 4-0?

[Zvaart]

Why are we talking Thunder here Wolves fans? Are we looking pass GWS already

good jinxes here, mate. keep them coming.

[cgf]

I just don’t see how the warriors make a series of it. They struggled with a much less dangerous Houston team just because of how small they are and how old their core is, the wolves should eat them alive.

[Klomp]

So many interesting possibilities for matchups. One thing that hasn't been discussed is Jaden McDaniels' ability to be a mismatch once again. Golden State has only one player taller than him: Quinten Post. I think we could continue to see confident Jaden, which is huge for our chances. He has to keep his emotions in check though. He is maybe the one player most likely to retaliate against any antics, which would be devastating!

I said ahead of the Lakers series how Minnesota will feast on the lack of a rim protector. Golden State isn't in much better of a situation. Their best rim protector is the same size as our starting shooting guard.

[Mavrelous]

I pick the Wolves in short series, but the longer this drags the more this favours the Warriors, 1st 2 games will decide the series IMO, if Wolves go up 2-0, I don't see the Ws coming back.

[Klomp]

Watch on YouTube

[Sandy333]

Lakers are better than the Warriors.

Lakers *were* better than the Warriors. Then they traded away AD.

Dubs became better before and after the moment Butler came on.

Warriors have been the most trojan horse contender since the trade deadline and everyone for some reason is acting like it isn't happening. Dismantled the 2nd seed Rockets on the road in a game 7.

Only OKC and Boston can stop them, and IMO, Dubs will beat OKC. Not sure about Boston.

Denver beats them hollow. A Denver team without jokic, Murray and mpj thrashed a full strength Warriors in a must win game.

[Klomp]

How small can Golden State afford to go? That might decide the entire series.

It's wild to think that a team could watch that first round series and decide to go even smaller than the Lakers did, but it's almost surely what Golden State will do. For the Lakers, small-ball was only really at center. They had pretty solid size everywhere else. The Lakers were regularly running out lineups with four players 6'7" and taller. Golden State will probably have one or two players max in that range on the court at a time for a majority of the series. And if they go away from that, it nukes their biggest potential advantage and puts less talented players on the court. Minnesota has a number of wing defenders to counter Golden State. Minnesota has a number of shooters to counter Golden State.

Gut feeling: This might be a Jaylen Clark series as well.

Watch on YouTube

[jscott]

I pick the Wolves in short series, but the longer this drags the more this favours the Warriors, 1st 2 games will decide the series IMO, if Wolves go up 2-0, I don't see the Ws coming back.

I dunno. I can easily see a situation where the Curry and Butler start to wear down after already going 7 with the Rockets. Wolves are younger and have had almost a week’s rest.

[Sealab2024]

The lineup of

DDV
Ant
McDaniels
Randle
Reid

Has been unreal this post season. The Lakers biggest problem was that their game plan was to play Gobert and Conley off the floor, which they often did, but this was the lineup they got for their troubles. When the 5 out went dry they just put Rudy back in and he grabbed every rebound.

If GS can't slow down that 5 out lineup they're in serious trouble because like the Lakers that's gonna be the lineup they try to force Minny into.

I also think NAW and DDV are gonna be big on defense this series as they will probably get a good share of chasing Steph around. NAWs ability to traverse screens could be particularly important.

[Ethomasp31]

I read some arguments about how bad JJ coaching cost LA the series and JJ only use 5 players in game 3 was such a bad idea. Do you guys know how many minutes did Luka and LBJ played in that infamous game? 40 mins each. How many minutes did you think Butler and Curry played in game 7 before getting on the plane to Minneapolis? 45 for Butler and 46 for Curry.

If GSW couldn't play Adam off the court with a small lineup until they put in Loony, what makes you think the small lineup would work for Gobert? Adams got more post up moved and is quicker?

If GSW defense can't stop Amen, how do they stop Ant?

GSW did had an impressive streak after the Butler trade but that was also in a time where every Warriors were hitting 3s including Draymond and Payton. Kerr probably hit some in the games too. I didn't see the same barrage of shooting in the Houston series.

If GSW is going to win, it will be because they got crazy shot making again and Wolves choked as the favorite. Although round two is about time when Butler chokes in the playoffs, if Draymond don't choke Gobert first.

They played 46 minutes each...

[Ethomasp31]

I understand but it's still about match ups. Why did Luka make quick work of the same impressive team last year?

Because they had just come off of a difficult, physical series two days earlier. Sound familiar?

Sure, so many factors play unto this. How about the Warriors winning the regular season 3-1 and that is without Jimmy Butler. Oh that means nothing because the playoffs are different. Ok then, just saying this might be closer than you guys think. Only disadvantage I can see is the lack of rest which you yourself emphasized and I get that. But other than that? I think we match up pretty well.

The last game between the two teams was January 15, the Wolves were 22-21 on January 20. The last 39 games of the season the Wolves were 27-12...and that was with DDV missing 19 games, Randle 14 games and Rudy 9 games. We are a totally different team now. We are a better team now than last years WCF team that won 56 games.

We have the home court advantage. We have the size. We are well rested. We have more ways to beat you. We have the depth. We have ANT. If we win the first two games, the series will be over in 4 or 5 games....and Green will be ejected (if he hasn't been suspended earlier) in the last game because he is too much of a punk to stick around. This is another series that Ant wanted.

[DonaldSanders]

If the two teams were fully rested and healthy, I'd take the Warriors. But we're talking Steph with his thumb, Jimmy with his butt, and a tired team that just went 7 games in a physical series and now they play vs. a rested athletic opponent. I'd be surprised if the Wolves didn't win Game 1, setting them up to take control of the series and likely win. I'm not counting the Warriors out, but given the age/injury situation the Warriors really needed to get their first round series done earlier.

[Shaka_Zulu]

I find him streaky and super inconsistent in playoffs with Wolves (not a riser like Ant and Jaden).


But if there is a series that screams potential Naz Reid series, it's this one.


He has oddly shown a consistent regular season streak going back years of having very productive games vs Warriors (maybe due to their smaller size):

5 years ago off the bench small minutes:

https://youtu.be/F3rTaFBS01o?si=r-ZErREbWdyxmMd2

These others past 3 years (20, 24 and 30 pts) :


https://youtu.be/mDwYR90kfmI?si=Z8-Lni9CDb49S1r9


https://youtu.be/JHFSwCPV_NA?si=YAG1puatFb2fYhRj

https://youtu.be/77WAemm7HME?si=Liwu4D3eA-gf5dO0