2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #6 Minnesota Timberwolves vs #7 Golden State Warriors (MIN leads 2-1)

[DonaldSanders]

I'd much rather beat this team with Curry playing, but he's injured and all we can do now is beat Jimmy.

Don't play the "Steph was torching the Wolves before he went out" card unless you're ready to agree with San Antonio fans that Kawhi was going to sweep you in 2017, if you know what I mean? 13 minutes doesn't give us something to project in a series. Draymond went 4-5 from 3 during that span. Had he gotten hurt, would you be telling me Draymond was going to go 32-40 from 3 in a quick sweep? We came to this series with defensive resources to throw at Steph, but obviously Steph is a transformative offensive player and especially on this roster he's the be all end all. He's also 37 and being asked to play a massive role for a deep playoff run.

I'm not happy about the Steph injury at all. I was excited for this series and to get to watch Steph. Total bummer that he's out. Even purely from a Wolves perspective, if we win, nobody cares. If we lose, it will be humiliating. I'd much rather play (win or lose) the Warriors at full strength. I liked our advantages in this series when I project

I wasn't trying to denigrate winning who is in front of you, was saying it's not a series I would flex on winning. I'm not an asterisk guy, but I certainly didn't beat my chest after beating the Kawhi-less Spurs. Just found the Jimmy image confusing considering the Wolves in fact did not make the playoffs the next 3 seasons without him (and just beat the Curry-less Warriors), and the entire Wolves team is different now (there isn't 1 player left from that 17-18 team).

I do root for the Wolves so I don't have any negative feelings here, if the Wolves win (which seems likely) I'll continue to root for them.

[California Gold]

I expect the Wolves to take Game 4, though it may be a tougher game for them than Game 3 was. Kerr knows going down 3-1 and then having to rush Curry back in game 5 is not going to be ideal. It's basically a must win for Golden State if they want any chance to win this series realistically speaking.

Wolves played just OK in game 3, they made their shots but never really separated themselves and had a lot of back and forth lead changes. Still, they executed late which is what matters in close games. Kuminga came to play for the Warriors, that's what they will need again but they'll also need Podz. I think he's the x-factor without Curry if they're going to take one from the Wolves. We know Butler is going to show up when needed. Draymond isn't someone to rely on for offense so it has to be a combination of those other 3 guys picking up the load.

[Ethomasp31]

This is mostly to T-Wolves fans but what would Ant have to do to pass KG as best T-Wolf? I would assume to most T-Wolves fans he's passed Love a while ago and has passed or is on the brink of passing Towns very shortly. Obviously a ring would automatically do it but otherwise would it take an MVP or Finals appearance to pass KG or does he also need more time spent with the team. Also in defense of Garnett as far as team success other than '04 his teams were nowhere near as talented as the teams Edwards has played on.

I don't think Ant is every going to be better at basketball than KG, but he's guaranteed to have a lot more team success. Minnesota's roster building around KG was a basketball tragedy. Ant has had the opportunity to be the best player on the best Minnesota team ever. It's not like Minnesota is loaded around Ant, but the front office has done well to pair him with a DPOY, another all-star level second option, and some really strong depth. If the Wolves can even build a second semi-contender (after Conley and eventually Gobert age out), Ant will get to play his whole prime as a star staple in the Western Conference playoffs. He's already won more playoff series than KG ever did in Minnesota.

Statistically, there's probably never going to be an argument for Ant>KG. It will be easy for Ant to eclipse KG as a Minnesota icon and fan favorite.

Ant has already won as many playoff games as KG did in Minnesota and he is only 23 yo. He has also won more playoff series than KG for the Wolves. Are they different players? Yes, but to say ANT will never be as good as KG is shocking to me since KG won a total of two series on the Timberwolves.

[theGreatRC]

Edwards will be entering the START of his prime in 3 years.

Can we slow down on judging him as a finished product?

Well, his prime has started now. 22 or 23 is pretty typical. Maybe his absolute peak will start at 26 or 27 and last for a few years, but this should be his prime right now.

I’ve been reading this board for a long time and this is the first time i’ve seen someone say a player’s prime is 22-23.

[Castle Black]

Lol.

Read on Twitter

[TrueFan420]

We just suck. Nothing new. Watch Rob fumble the luka era as well.

We won’t have the stones to do it but he should move on from Bron. Start the rebuild around Luka now.

Cant do it either way. Lebron has a NTC. I'd move on from him this offseason.

Of course he does but they can convince him to waive it for the right deal. If I'm the lakers, I’m tearing it all down and building around Luka. I’d make it clear to Bron that his thoughts no longer carry weight as the goal is the next 10 with Luka not today with him. Hell I’m sure he already knows. That’s why there were rumors he might ask to leave after the AD trade. He was waiting to see how it would play out. He can now leave and not be the bad guy.

[TrueFan420]

Just need to win game 4 and everything will have broken as well as we could have expected. This Wolves team is beatable.

[bisme37]

As a fan it's super cool when your young star has playoff success early in his career, but then people forget the kid is so young and talk about him like a finished product and expect him to win titles immediately, which can be super annoying for fans haha.

[f4p]

Edwards will be entering the START of his prime in 3 years.

Can we slow down on judging him as a finished product?

Well, his prime has started now. 22 or 23 is pretty typical. Maybe his absolute peak will start at 26 or 27 and last for a few years, but this should be his prime right now.

How long have you been watching NBA? Name me how many 23 year olds or younger who leads their team to NBA championships. There is not many Magic Johnson’s around on this planet.

23 years old is not part of NBA players prime years. Athletic?….yes. But definitely not prime years in a career for All-NBA players. Not even close.

Uhh, Duncan was 23 when he won his championship. Hakeem was 23 when he got the rockets to the finals. Bird was a 23 year old rookie who almost won MVP. Jordan was 23 when he scored 63 in the Garden. Shaq was 23 when he made the finals and had been dominant the year before. LeBron was 22 when he made the finals and was great before. Wilt was a 23 year old rookie MVP. Russ a 23 year old rookie champ. Kareem a dominant 23 year old rookie. And these are ages in the playoffs, so some of these are actually age 22 seasons on BBRef.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

I wasn't trying to denigrate winning who is in front of you, was saying it's not a series I would flex on winning. I'm not an asterisk guy, but I certainly didn't beat my chest after beating the Kawhi-less Spurs. Just found the Jimmy image confusing considering the Wolves in fact did not make the playoffs the next 3 seasons without him (and just beat the Curry-less Warriors), and the entire Wolves team is different now (there isn't 1 player left from that 17-18 team).

I do root for the Wolves so I don't have any negative feelings here, if the Wolves win (which seems likely) I'll continue to root for them.

Just my opinion as a humble Heat fan, but the Jimmy image was specifically to clown on Jimmy, not the Warriors or their fans. Similarly as a Heat fan who doesn't hate Jimmy, I can still get enjoyment out of seeing him lose because he was an absolute douche on his way out. But hey, he got his money, so good for him!

[Tim_Hardawayy]

Btw to Wolves fans, I can admit I was possibly wrong about Randle, maybe he is a keeper, or at least more worth it to you than as a trade chip. He really does seemed to have turned the corner, his chemistry with Antman is incredible. They both seem to play off each other and make each other better, which is odd to me because it always felt like with the Knicks, him and Brunson were more of a take turns duo.

[Tracymcgoaty]

We won’t have the stones to do it but he should move on from Bron. Start the rebuild around Luka now.

Cant do it either way. Lebron has a NTC. I'd move on from him this offseason.

Of course he does but they can convince him to waive it for the right deal. If I'm the lakers, I’m tearing it all down and building around Luka. I’d make it clear to Bron that his thoughts no longer carry weight as the goal is the next 10 with Luka not today with him. Hell I’m sure he already knows. That’s why there were rumors he might ask to leave after the AD trade. He was waiting to see how it would play out. He can now leave and not be the bad guy.

Yeah i mean Lebron isn't stupid. He doesn't need Rob to tell him that. Lebron has waited since 2021 for someone to the main guy. AD wasn't it. Now Luka is here and like you said it's his team.

Nobody is happier about that than Lebron i think. For the mere fact that defenses cant key in on him and ignore everyone else anymore.

I think we'll see one more season with Luka and Lebron and given how that pans out it'll dictate what Lebron does.

But they haven't had a proper off season and im fully in the belief that luka hasn't shaken off the trade.

Luka more than anything needs to get his mind and body right.


I also think Lebrons play clearly showed he considers Luka to be the main guy. I just think he's 40 and we need someone who fits Lukas timeline more.

But if he stays i honestly wouldn't be mad.

[Sandy333]

Randle is too big, strong, and not to be messed with for Draymond to get into his head with the antics. Saw so many times Randle made him look like a little kid tryna bang with him.

Is Randle in the top 5 strongest players currently? Him and Adams have to be up there for sure. Green is strong too, Randle handling him inside is no joke.

That's why 4th foul on green when Randle went shoulder first into greens chest was so disturbing. It was not overturned on review also. It's a proper fix job by ref. Ant was getting free throws even when he was not inthe act of shooting.
Every time warriors expended energy and went on a run, Minnesota would get cheap fouls without expending any energy.

[shrink]

I'd much rather beat this team with Curry playing, but he's injured and all we can do now is beat Jimmy.

Don't play the "Steph was torching the Wolves before he went out" card unless you're ready to agree with San Antonio fans that Kawhi was going to sweep you in 2017, if you know what I mean? 13 minutes doesn't give us something to project in a series. Draymond went 4-5 from 3 during that span. Had he gotten hurt, would you be telling me Draymond was going to go 32-40 from 3 in a quick sweep? We came to this series with defensive resources to throw at Steph, but obviously Steph is a transformative offensive player and especially on this roster he's the be all end all. He's also 37 and being asked to play a massive role for a deep playoff run.

I'm not happy about the Steph injury at all. I was excited for this series and to get to watch Steph. Total bummer that he's out. Even purely from a Wolves perspective, if we win, nobody cares. If we lose, it will be humiliating. I'd much rather play (win or lose) the Warriors at full strength. I liked our advantages in this series when I project

Dubs fan here. I think the injury free Kawhi Spurs were going to probably beat the Dubs. I also think the Curry hamstring injury free Warriors were going to probably beat this year's TWolves.

I don't think Edwards has gotten over whatever mental struggles he is having and is fully unlocked, that's all. We saw him throw down a couple of monster jams but he was still struggling early and he doesn't know yet how to control games when his shot isn't falling...in my book.

Agree with cupcakesnake - as a Wolves’ fan, I wanted to see Ant put Curry’s head on his wall, to join his other victims.

Edwards’ greatest “mental struggle,” for the last three years, is that he plays great when he’s the underdog and facing tough competition. When his team is the favorite, he often gets lackadaisical and the team often follows.

So if Curry was playing, Ant’s game would rise.

[ReggiesKnicks]

Randle already has 1/3 of his Regular Season VORP in 8 playoff games.

[shrink]

Btw to Wolves fans, I can admit I was possibly wrong about Randle, maybe he is a keeper, or at least more worth it to you than as a trade chip. He really does seemed to have turned the corner, his chemistry with Antman is incredible. They both seem to play off each other and make each other better, which is odd to me because it always felt like with the Knicks, him and Brunson were more of a take turns duo.

You don’t owe us any apologies, because most Wolves fans also thought Randle would just be a useful expiring, and we were worried about whether he’d damage the team if he chose to pick up his $31 mil player option.

Finch and Randle made us all look silly. Since Jan 22, the Wolves are an incredible 28-6 (82.3%) in games he’s played!

[NO-KG-AI]

As a fan it's super cool when your young star has playoff success early in his career, but then people forget the kid is so young and talk about him like a finished product and expect him to win titles immediately, which can be super annoying for fans haha.

My issue isn’t with him not winning a title or not having amazing games. I think there is an issue with Ant being passive for long stretches of games.

To his credit, he does seem to come to play defensively no matter what.

[benhillboy]

I was a Randle fan when he was in LA but don’t care for him as a higher usage face up guy too tough. That said I gotta tip my hat to him last night. You want to see more emotion from him at times (like earlier in his career) but he keeps his cool and poise as well as any in the league.

He personifies “Bull in a China Shop” and his jump passes and funky release aren’t exactly aesthetically pleasing (I guess making him the perfect contrast for Ant’s gorgeous game)

Speaking of whom I think Ant just had/is having an ingenious season of pacing himself, avoiding injury, and building his game. He already has the veteran feel of how and when to take plays off on both ends without it giving up points and when to offset them by going extra hard. He’s having no problem diagnosing and manipulating blitzes with a sparkling 3.3:1 playoff assist to turn ratio and +8.2 on court per 100, I think which is most indicative of how positively active he is in his defensive space and his obvious gravity that he’s extended out so damn far.

I love Steph and Jimmy to death but if they have to bow out I’d most want their demise brought on by a compete basketball junkie from good ole SW Atlanta. I didn’t have any delusions that they and Draymond would make it through a deep run healthy, 53 years old all of em

All you can do is shake your head at the fact Ant’s only 23. People talk about him like a finished product because it’s nearly unfathomable to think he’s 7-8 years away from when he’ll be the best blend of brain and body. Just stock up your popcorn and enjoy the show…

[DonaldSanders]

As a fan it's super cool when your young star has playoff success early in his career, but then people forget the kid is so young and talk about him like a finished product and expect him to win titles immediately, which can be super annoying for fans haha.

Yeah the pressure cooker for young stars is just insane. The consensus top 2 all-time players (MJ/LBJ) both didn't win one until they were 27 and the current top player Jokic won his at 27. Very few stars get a stacked team early like Magic or Duncan.

Agree with cupcakesnake - as a Wolves’ fan, I wanted to see Ant put Curry’s head on his wall, to join his other victims.

Edwards’ greatest “mental struggle,” for the last three years, is that he plays great when he’s the underdog and facing tough competition. When his team is the favorite, he often gets lackadaisical and the team often follows.

So if Curry was playing, Ant’s game would rise.

It's well known Ant wants to go at stars and I think all fanbases have grown tired of the asterisk BS that circulates more than ever. Plenty of stars and series still in the playoffs luckily, hopefully Curry is the last to go down.

[TimberKat]

Randle is too big, strong, and not to be messed with for Draymond to get into his head with the antics. Saw so many times Randle made him look like a little kid tryna bang with him.

Is Randle in the top 5 strongest players currently? Him and Adams have to be up there for sure. Green is strong too, Randle handling him inside is no joke.

That's why 4th foul on green when Randle went shoulder first into greens chest was so disturbing. It was not overturned on review also. It's a proper fix job by ref. Ant was getting free throws even when he was not inthe act of shooting.
Every time warriors expended energy and went on a run, Minnesota would get cheap fouls without expending any energy.

Is there a fan base that doesn't complain refs are helping the other team? Ant and Wolves fan always complaining about not getting big market calls. Why would NBA fix it for Twolves? Isn't Curry/Butler's last playoff run more intriguing and sell more tickets? Warriors do commit a lot of cheap fouls and jersey grabbing