Warriors’ shooting harkens back to ‘We Believe’ era, and not in a good way

SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors know they’re a vastly different team without Steph Curry in the lineup, simply unable to replicate the kind of offense the two-time NBA scoring champ has been known to create throughout his Hall of Fame-caliber career.

But the Warriors also know that to give themselves a chance against the Minnesota Timberwolves, they’ll still have to generate more quality looks from beyond the arc than they did Saturday.

After a cold-shooting first half, the Warriors finished 10-for-23 on 3-point attempts in a 102-97 loss to the Timberwolves in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal playoff series at Chase Center.

For the first time since Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson wore the uniform during the team’s ‘We Believe’ era, the Warriors failed to make a 3-pointer in one half of a playoff game, going 0-for-5 in the first 24 minutes.

“It’s hard to generate threes,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “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.”

No team averaged less than 31 3-point attempts per game this NBA regular season. That 2006-07 Warriors team, led by Davis, Jackson, and Jason Richardson, led the NBA with an average of 24 3-pointers attempted per game, half as many as the Boston Celtics averaged this season.

That likely won’t get it done in 2025.

But the Warriors rediscovered — to some degree — their perimeter-shooting identity in the third quarter, making 6 of 16 from beyond the arc to help take a 73-69 lead. Still, the Warriors’ 23 3-point attempts were well off their postseason average of 41.8, as they relied more on Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga getting to the basket and scoring in transition.

Butler scored 33 points, and Kuminga scored 30. However, the Warriors were 35 for 81 from the field, and now Minnesota has a 2-1 series lead going into a near must-win for the Warriors in Game 4.

“Jimmy obviously is creating plenty, but it’s different,” Kerr said. “It’s not the same level of stretching the defense out like Steph does. So we’ve got to find ways to score more, to try to generate more shots, and we’ll look at the tape and figure that out.”

The last time the Warriors did not make a 3-pointer through an entire half of a postseason game was April 25, 2007.

That day, Golden State did not make a shot from beyond the arc in the second half of their opening-round series against the Dallas Mavericks and lost 112-99 in Game 2. The Warriors would go on to upset the top-seeded Mavericks in six games.

Without Curry, beating the Timberwolves in a best-of-seven series appears almost as daunting for the Warriors, especially with how Minnesota has hounded Buddy Hield the last two games.

Saturday, Hield missed all three of his shots from the field and attempted only one 3-pointer in the first half. He didn’t want to force shot attempts and take the Warriors out of rhythm, as they held a 42-40 lead at the break.

Hield spoke with Curry before the start of the third quarter about what he was seeing, then made Golden State’s first three just 35 seconds after halftime. Hield went 4-for-8 on 3-point attempts as he finished Saturday with a hard-earned 14 points.

“I think just talking to (Curry) at halftime, I was able to get shots off in the second half,” Hield said. “Just reading the defense, like I’m getting ‘The Steph Rules,’ right now. I told him, I see what you go through.

“But it’s fun. That’s why it’s a seven-game series. It’s always a challenge, and you’ve got to overcome these challenges.

The Warriors made five of their first eight 3-point attempts in the third quarter, with Butler making one with 2:04 left to give Golden State a 67-62 lead.

That’s about as good as it got for Golden State, which lost the lead midway through the fourth quarter and never recovered.

Kerr knew his team’s offense would be wildly different without Curry, who has a Grade 1 strain in his left hamstring and will not play until later next week.

Of the Warriors’ 1,264 three-pointers this season, 311 were made by Curry.

“You can’t suddenly install a new offense in one day,” Kerr said. “But we obviously will lean into Jimmy (Butler), play through him. We’re still going to run similar actions, but Steph is one of one, and a lot of the stuff he creates is not replicable, because we don’t call a ton of plays.

“We run pick and roll with Steph. He comes off, gives it up, and starts flying around. There’s no call for that, it’s a concept more than anything. So it’s not really about play calls. It’s about playing with pace and energy, playing through Jimmy, having the correct spacing, and then getting stops.”