The Minnesota Timberwolves have the chance to knock out the Golden State Warriors with Stephen Curry still sidelined on Wednesday night. The Wolves enter Game 5 with a 3-1 lead in the second-round NBA playoff series. One more win sends Minnesota back to the Western Conference finals for the second year in a row.
Curry, who was hurt in Game 1 of this series, is out again Wednesday with a strained hamstring. There’s a chance that Golden State’s superstar could return in Game 6, which is scheduled for Sunday, but the Warriors would need to pick up a win in Game 5 first.
The Warriors, predictably, have struggled to generate offense without Curry. Jimmy Butler is averaging 21 points per game in the series, but he had just 14 points on nine shots in a Game 4 loss. Minnesota, meanwhile, is getting a combined 51.6 points per game from Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. A win in Game 5 will send them to the WCF against either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Denver Nuggets.
Timberwolves vs. Warriors: Game 5 info
Time 9:30 p.m. | Date: Wednesday, May 14
Location: Target Center — Minneapolis
TV channel: TNT | Live stream: Max
Odds (via BetMGM): Timberwolves -10.5, O/U 202.5
Timberwolves vs. Warriors: Game 5
To be frank, I don’t trust Minnesota not to play with its food before it eats it. That’s been the pattern with the Timberwolves all season. They let the Warriors hang around in both San Francisco games before winning by single digits. It was a similar pattern with the Lakers in the first round. This is a team that blew a 24-point fourth-quarter lead against the Bucks a month ago. They should finish this series. I do not trust them to do so convincingly. The Pick: Warriors +10.5