San Francisco – Minnesota trailed 82-77 with fewer than eight minutes to play in Game 3 on Saturday. The Timberwolves were a little scrambled for much of the evening. They’d committed 21 turnovers to keep the nose of the Warriors – playing without their best player in Steph Curry – out in front for much of the contest.

It's actually forward Julius Randle's timely playmaking. The big man has been a terrific secondary/tertiary creator against the Warriors, as he's created a lot of good looks for his Timberwolves teammates while working out of the post and from the elbow.

The Golden State Warriors are just trying to stay alive long enough to get Stephen Curry back. After falling short in Game 2 despite what felt like a best-shot type of effort, getting 63 points from Jimmy Butler and the suddenly revitalized Jonathan Kuminga,

The Warriors lost another playoff game to the Timberwolves without Steph Curry and now trail 2-1 in the series, but they may have gotten their first slice of hope since Curry left Game 1 with a hamstring injury.

The Warriors took the first game of the series on the road, but the Timberwolves took advantage of Stephen Curry’s absence to get into the win column in the second. Curry left Game 1 with a hamstring injury and is expected to be out for at least a week.

After three quarters of uninspiring basketball, Minnesota mustered up enough good basketball when it needed it.