The Golden State Warriors faced the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday for Game 4 of their second-round series in the 2025 NBA playoffs without their best player. Stephen Curry has been out with a strained hamstring since Game 1, when he left the match. The Warriors knew they didn’t have the two-time MVP and the players needed to step up to try and even the series.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, their remaining star players (Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green) lacked aggression offensively. Butler only had nine shots and ended with 14 points and six rebounds. Green, tried his best to take charge offensively and had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Their combined efforts were not enough to beat the Wolves and they had a 117-110 defeat to give the Wolves a 3-1 lead in the series.
After the game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr justified why Butler wasn’t aggressive in Game 4.
“He wasn’t as aggressive tonight but I didn’t see a lot of openings either,” Kerr said. “Ideally, we could more shooting around him to open up the floor a little bit. But with Steph out, we are not gonna be able to do as much of that.
For Game 5, however, Kerr said they’ll try to formulate a game plan for him to find more open shots, He also said that he knows Butler will try to be aggressive on Wednesday.
“With that said, we’ll look at the tame and see where we can find some openings for him. I know he’ll be aggressive for Game 5.”
Steve Kerr on Jimmy Butler (nine shots tonight): “He wasn’t as aggressive tonight but I didn’t see a lot of openings.”
Lack of shooting/spacing around Butler and available to Kerr was a repeat postgame talking point pic.twitter.com/59iUU7bCXu
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 13, 2025
In the series against Minnesota, the Golden State Warriors star has averaged 21 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists. Butler is also shooting 35.3 percent from deep as he tries to make the most of the open chances he gets from the defense.
Golden State Warriors star doesn’t want Curry to rush his return from injury
The Golden State Warriors work well with a healthy Curry on the floor. His presence makes the offense flow smoothly. While most fans are looking forward to his return, his teammate doesn’t want him to rush from coming back from injury.
“We don’t need Superman. Play the long game. If he can, we know he will; there’s no pressure. But we gotta figure out a way to win whether he plays or not,” Green said via The Athletic’s Anthony Slater.
Draymond Green on not wanting Steph Curry to rush back despite GSW facing elimination: “We don’t need Superman. Play the long game. If he can, we know he will. But we gotta figure out a way to win whether he plays or not.” pic.twitter.com/7SDSpWeDbU
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 13, 2025
The Golden State Warriors are in a tough spot as they could be eliminated in Game 5. Without their leader, there’s a bigger chance they could lose. The team will need players like Green and Butler to step up and take the lead to extend the series.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
