Why Warriors’ shooting woes are exacerbated without Steph Curry

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.”

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

That likely won’t get it done in 2025. 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.

Saturday, Buddy 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.

“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.”