Ice-cold Timberwolves show fight late, but fall to Warriors in Game 1 of West semifinal

Target Center was rocking and the Minnesota Timberwolves gave the crowd plenty to cheer for in the first 12 minutes.

The crowd didn't have much to cheer for over the remaining 36 minutes. The Golden State Warriors opened the second quarter on a 15-0 run and they never looked back, even after Steph Curry exited the game with a hamstring injury, as Golden State downed the ice-cold Wolves 99-88 in Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal Tuesday in Minneapolis.

Now, the Wolves didn't go down without a fight. Despite facing a 20-point deficit entering the fourth quarter, they slowly whittled it down as Rudy Gobert drew fouls on the offensive glass and Anthony Edwards got to the rim. Gobert made a free throw to cut it to single digits with 6:47 remaining, but Buddy Hield hit a 3-pointer and Jimmy Butler hit a jumper that pushed it back to a 14-point margin a minute and a half later, buckets that more or less iced the game for the Warriors.

Edwards cut it back to single digits with an and-1 layup with 3:30 to go, but Gary Payton II answered right back with a 3. Edwards responded by drilling a 3, but Hield came right back and knocked down a shot from deep. Too little, too late.

The Warriors were raining 3-pointers during the second-quarter run, and it appeared Draymond Green acquired Curry's powers as he drained four from deep in the opening half. Curry exited with the hamstring injury during the quarter and never returned, finishing with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting. But despite missing the superstar and four-time champion, the Warriors had all the momentum and they never relinquished it, going into the halftime break with a 44-31 advantage.

Hield led the Warriors with 24 points. Green finished with 18 points, eight rebounds six assists and a pair of steals. Jimmy Butler, who was booed every time he touched the ball, put up 20 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and two steals.

It couldn't have been an uglier half for the Wolves, who shot just 14 for 44 from the field, including 0 for 15 from 3. Edwards had just a single point in the half and was 0 for 8 from the field. There was no rhythm to be had, shots weren't falling and Golden State's defense stifled them entirely. It couldn't have been a more frustrating half of basketball.

The struggles only continued into the third quarter as the 3s still weren't falling and the Warriors exploded for 36 points. The Wolves shot just 34 for 85 from the field for the game, including 5 for 28 from 3 as their shooting struggles from their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers — including 40 misses from deep in Game 5 — carried over to Game 1.

The size advantage was there for the Wolves, but the extent to which they were able to take advantage of it was limited. Gobert had six points in the first quarter, but finished with just nine points and 11 rebounds. Naz Reid was effective off the bench, scoring 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting, but he was about the only one for the Wolves. Edwards did a little bit of everything, putting up 23 points, 14 rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block, but shot just 9 for 22 from the field.

The Warriors stole Game 1 in Minneapolis. The Wolves will look to bounce back, and shake off their shooting struggles, when the series returns to Target Center for a 7:30 p.m. CT tipoff Thursday night for Game 2.