Warriors ‘have faith,' but without Steph Curry is that based on reality?

San Francisco Chronicle​

13-05-2025

The air seeped out of Chase Center midway through the final quarter. The fans weren't far behind, foregoing late-game bench player thrills for the lure of the exits.
Was Monday the Golden State Warriors ' final home game of the season? Was it possibly the last playoff moment for the remnants of the Warriors' dynasty?
Nobody knows the future, whether it be Wednesday in Minneapolis or next season. But what took place on Monday night was a grim reality: a 117-110 loss in a game that felt like a must-win, giving Minnesota a dominating 3-1 advantage in the Western Conference semifinal series.
The loss left Warriors fans with desperate prayers and scant hope, particularly since Stephen Curry will likely remain sidelined for at least one more game. A game that may be a season-ender.
The predicament left the Warriors embattled. But they still project confidence.
'Win one game, take it from there,' Draymond Green said. 'That's our mindset.
'You win one and everything changes.'
Win one and you extend the series, bringing it back to Chase Center for Game 6. Win one and you give Curry precious extra days to heal with three off days after Games 5. Win one and everything really does change.
But can they win one without Curry? He is their center, the gravitational pull to all they do, the flame that ignites them. And now they're trying to figure out how to win without him, on the fly. They didn't have a 'Steph pulls a hamstring' contingency plan. Steve Kerr is mixing and matching and trying to figure out what works. Some things do, but not for very long.
At times in Games 3 and 4 it looked as though the Warriors might be able to pull it off, that they could actually win without Curry. But in Game 3, they ran out of steam in the final minutes, missing Green who had fouled out. In Game 4, they got blitzed in the third quarter 39-17 — the victims of a 17-0 Timberwolves run — and never recovered.
'We have belief, we have faith,' Kevon Looney said. 'We'll take it possession by possession, quarter by quarter. We've got to put together a full game, not just 40 good minutes of basketball.'
After the Game 3 loss, Jimmy Butler said that the Warriors would have to put on their 'big boy pants' for Game 4. But no one, including Butler who was a game-worst minus-30 and only took nine shots, found those adult-sized Carhartts. Green said that Butler was under the weather and was feeling 'pretty crappy all day.' Playoff Jimmy didn't emerge on Monday night at Chase as the Minnesota defense swarmed him.
The Warriors role players had a collective rough night again. Brandin Podziemski was 3-for-14 — 0-for-4 from 3-point range — on Monday bringing his shooting totals to 9-for-40 for the series. Buddy Hield had twice as many turnovers (4) as 3-pointers made.
'Steph's a guy who breaks the defense down for us and creates that offensive flow,' Kerr said. 'The end result is that shots are more difficult for every single guy.
'We pushed the tempo. We scored 60 points in the first half. We did some good things. We just couldn't sustain it overall.'
There were bright spots. Jonathan Kuminga 's 'I'll Be Gettin' Paid (Somewhere)' tour continued, with another strong night. Even with more attention from Minnesota's defense, Kunminga scored a team-high 23 points, going 11-of-12 from the free throw line and looking confident, explosive and decisive.
'I feel very comfortable,' he said.
Looney gave the Warriors 14 strong minutes, battling Minnesota's size in the paint, pulling down rebounds and sending outlet passes to spark the Warriors transition game in the second quarter.
But none of it was enough. Not without Curry and not while the Timberwolves have Anthony Edwards exerting his own gravitational pull. Edwards scored 30 points, none more important than the buzzer-beating pullup 3-pointer he hit at the end of the first half. As we've seen so many times with Curry, the shot not only sliced the Timberwolves deficit to two, it ignited Edwards and fueled a momentum that carried into the third quarter.
The Warriors are keeping the faith, keeping hope alive. Because if they didn't have that mindset, they might all be feeling — like Butler — 'pretty crappy.' Sick to their stomachs.
With Curry leading them, the Warriors would be one of the top teams remaining in the playoffs. With Curry, they looked like a team that might have handled the Timberwolves in six games and made it to the Western Conference finals.
But without Curry, they are out of synch, out of sorts, almost out of hope. Only one more game is guaranteed.
Win it and everything changes.
Lose it and step into an uncertain future.