Warriors miss all five 3-point tries in first half before Buddy Hield connects early in third

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With the NBA all-time 3-point leader Stephen Curry relegated to cheering while sidelined by a hamstring injury and sporting a gray sweatsuit on the bench, the Golden State Warriors struggled to establish their long-range game in a 102-97 Game 3 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.

They didn’t make a shot from deep in the first half, but led 42-40 anyway.

Golden State missed its first five tries from beyond the arc before Buddy Hield connected 35 seconds into the third quarter. The Warriors came into Game 3 against Minnesota with a playoff-leading 135 3-pointers.

Golden State made 6 of 11 3s in the third quarter to go ahead 73-69 and finished 10 for 23 from deep.

“It’s hard to generate 3s, you have to gain an advantage and get rotations. It’s hard for us to do without Steph, without our point guard and pick-and-rolls,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Jimmy (Butler) is obviously creating plenty, it’s different. It’s not the same level of stretching the defense out like Steph does. So we’ve got to try to find ways to score more, to try to generate more shots.”

It marked the first time the Warriors didn’t hit at least one 3 in any half of a playoff game since the second half of a 112-99 loss in Game 2 of the first round against Dallas in 2007. The Warriors finished 4 for 20 in that one.

Parse.ly - related stories

Edwards, Randle lead Timberwolves past Warriors 102-97 for 2-1 lead in second-round playoff series

 

Stephen Curry says he knows patience will be required when dealing with hamstring injury

 

Warriors will rely on the Jimmy-Buddy show to help stay afloat vs. Wolves with Curry out

 

It was also the first time they went without a 3 in a first half of a playoff game in the play-by-play era, since 1997. Two other teams this postseason have been held without a 3 in the first half — Minnesota in Game 1 of this series and the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of their first-round win against Orlando. No team had done so the previous six postseasons.

The Warriors also became the first team to lead a playoff game at halftime despite making no 3s since the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017.

Curry strained his left hamstring early in Game 1 at Minnesota and is scheduled to be reevaluated Wednesday.

Hield made four 3s and scored all 14 of his points in the second half, but there’s more attention on him with Curry out.

“Even the first two games before that we were not able to get 3s up. The only person probably getting 3s up was probably Steph,” Hield said. “And Steph is not out there the way they’re gravitating to me, just got to find a way to get some up. You don’t want to be forceful out there ... you don’t want to take bad shots. Everybody’s like you should be able to get 3s up but you’ve got to stick to the energy of the game, the flow of the game.”

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA