Preview: Playoff Jimmy? The Warriors need you now

No easy answers without Curry

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The Golden State Warriors are coming back home to Chase Center after successfully securing a split on the road opener, essentially stealing home court advantage - if they can keep it.

The major looming issue is, of course, the hamstring injury that Stephen Curry sustained just a few minutes into the 2nd quarter of game one. We already knew that he would be out through game four at minimum, game five (in Minnesota) sounds like a stretch though, which puts game six now as the most likely window for return. It’s all very far from certain, and equally far from ideal for a player and team that have gone through so much but have looked like a strong candidate this postseason. Speaking to reporters yesterday for the first time since the injury, Curry was preaching caution, there’s a lot of uncertainty associated with coming back from this hamstring injury:

“You can’t accelerate more than the body is telling you. It’ll be one of those after a week, really re-evaluate it every day to understand when it’s safe just to even think about playing.” - Stephen Curry

The playoffs are all about adjustments — mental, physical, and schematic. No team in the NBA understands this better than the Golden State Warriors, whose dynastic run has been defined as much by reinvention as by excellence. Now, with their playoff hopes once again riding the razor’s edge — and without their central star in Stephen Curry — the Warriors are faced with their most radical recalibration yet.

These next two games at home will be huge, and everyone knows it. Fun!

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GAME DETAILS

WHO: Golden State Warriors vs Minnesota Timberwolves

Series is tied 1-1

WHEN: Saturday, May 10th, 2025; 5:30pm PST

WATCH: ABC

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If there was ever a time for Playoff Jimmy, it’s now

When coach Steve Kerr first arrive to lead the Warriors, his first order of business was a total teardown and redesign of the offense. Combining principles of a few different offenses - including some NFL “pace-and-space” elements - the top priority was to free up Curry. As an extremely successful spot up shooter himself, Kerr was well aware of how much chaos can be created by getting a marksman like Curry into open space.

It’s worked so well that the league has been transformed. Most offenses now look a whole lot more like Kerr’s systems than those that were here under Mark Jackson, and the Warriors have firmly cemented their place amongst the greatest NBA dynasties of all time. It’s very fair to say that Golden State has thrived specifically because of their formula - a math that is now going to have to be fundamentally different because it doesn’t pencil out without Curry at the center of it all, balancing the equation.

Game two was a blowout. Yes, even though Golden State managed to close to within seven in the waning moments, the Timberwolves average lead in the game was just over 15 points; they led by as many as 25 - game two wasn’t close.

So where does this leave the Warriors?

Thankfully, this team isn’t nearly as bereft of backup plans as they may have been if finding themselves in this position prior to trading for Jimmy Butler. Playoff Jimmy has very famously been enough before, and the hope is that he can serve as a new, different focal point for the Warriors’ math to operate around. The problem is that Butler’s equation is fundamentally different than what’s been in use for Curry. So the Warriors got experimental in game two.

Kerr admitted as much, running out 14 different players before halftime, and today’s game will reflect the outcomes of those experiments. Without the advanced visibility into the metrics that Kerr and his staff will use to evaluate everything, a safe proxy is just to look at the game’s top scorers. Jonathan Kuminga led all Warriors with 18 points. Butler had 17 points and Buddy Hield and Jackson-Davis both chipped in 15 each.

But did it help? Inconclusive. But it’s at least a “maybe.”

Hield and Butler are mainstays in the rotation, so they’ll continue to rack up big playing times with plenty of opportunities to contribute. But this is where today’s game gets super interesting. Is there a fundamentally different version of the Warriors that Kerr is contemplating? Though the Butler-Kuminga pairing was not a great producer during the regular season, there’s nothing regular about tonight.

As DNHQ’s own, Eric Apricot has pointed out, if Curry-centric offense is akin to Water Bending, then Butler-based schemes are Earth. More solid, less emphasis on floaty edges and more “ground and pound” ethos.

In this revised approach, players like Kuminga and Jackson-Davis could be more helpful because neither is especially adept at floating around the edges. These guys are both rim punchers.

Kerr is an expert at these in-round adjustments. Traditionally opting to go small with Draymond Green at center, there’s one or two of these big positional flips in every post season. This time around, it will be something different. A tonal shift that has more in common with thumping house music than airy orchestras.

There’s risks here as well. Kuminga and Jackson-Davis fell out of the rotation because of the things they don’t do well. Both will further hamper the spacing on the court, and neither is the type of defender that Green is. Pushing these lineup changes into place almost certainly makes the overall team defense worse.

But watching the little changes that Apricot saw in that video above, it’s not like this transition is coming out of nowhere, Golden State has been tinkering with this as a concept forever. Now it’s time to see if these principles, and a whole lot of gumption, are enough to save the series.

Prediction

I believe. Without that 13-0 run to start game two, it could have felt way different. Looking ahead, the Warriors know that a home split is the minimum viable successful outcome. But if the new look changes enough, and the Warriors take today’s game as a personal challenge to the last gasp of Curry’s championship window, it’s a win. It’s got to be.