Draymond Green received another technical foul Thursday night and, after the Warriors’ 117-93 loss to the Timberwolves evened their Western Conference semifinals series at a game apiece, suggested there was a smear campaign against him.

“The agenda to continue to keep making me look like an angry black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous,” Green told reporters in the locker room in his only comments following the Game 2 loss that featured him picking up his fifth tech of the postseason.

Two more would earn Green a one-game suspension. He also has two flagrant fouls and is two away from those resulting in the same punishment.

“He’s gonna have to be careful now,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s gonna have to stay composed. Obviously, we need him. I’m confident that he will because he knows the circumstances.”

A potent mix of athleticism, basketball IQ and emotion, Green has proudly described himself as a “habitual line stepper,” and Kerr acknowledged after the latest incident, “That’s part of Draymond.” He runs their offense and their defense and sometimes runs a little hot, too.

“Same thing that makes him such a competitor and a winner puts him over the top sometimes. We know that,” Kerr said. “It’s our job to try to help him stay poised, stay composed. But it’s a competition, and it’s so meaningful to him that occasionally he goes over the line.”

So incensed was Green midway through the second quarter Thursday that Kerr said he felt the need to sub him out and let him cool down. At one point, the injured Stephen Curry appeared to try to calm him. But it wasn’t his temper that Tony Brothers teed him up for. Green fumed and continued to plead his case after Brothers announced the outcome of the video review that determined he committed a “hostile act” when he swung his arms and hit Naz Reid after being fouled on the perimeter.

Reid was whistled for a common foul when he reached around with his right arm, attempting to steal the ball. Green then flailed his arms upward — a similar motion to the one that earned him another technical in the first round against the Rockets and that he has displayed in the past — and Reid fell to the floor, holding his face.

“It’s just a habit he has,” Kerr said. “When somebody fouls him, he’s smart. I think Reid reached, and on the reach Draymond kind of swiped through and drew the foul. But he does have a habit of sort of flailing his arm to try to make sure the ref sees it. He made contact and that’s what led to the tech.”

Green spent the next six minutes on the bench and eventually finished with nine points, five assists and three rebounds in 29 minutes.

Jimmy Butler III heard what Green said in the locker room and was asked if he also believed Green’s reputation was playing a role.

“I’m in agreeance,” Butler said. “It’s not like he’s doing it on purpose. He’s trying to sell a call or something like that. Somebody just got hit. … It’s crazy. Every time he does something, it ends up being a review.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Green’s actions earned him a postseason suspension. He picked up four flagrant “points” (one for a level-one foul, two for a level-two) in 2016 that forced him to miss Game 5 of the NBA Finals. He also sat out a game against the Kings in 2023 after stepping on Domantas Sabonis.

Green held himself accountable for letting his emotions get the best of him during their loss in Game 6 last series and turned in a masterful defensive performance the following game to advance. Green promised his teammates after Game 6 that he wouldn’t let it happen again, and it will he will have to show similar restraint the rest of the Warriors’ playoff run, however far they go.

“He knows he got five. He knows how much we need him now more than ever,” Butler said. “So I don’t think he gets to seven.”

You probably don’t remember the Warriors’ 2019-2020 season.

I don’t blame you for erasing it from your memory.

After five straight trips to the Finals and the departures of Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston in the offseason, the Warriors entered the season knowing that contending for a title was a long shot. Within five games, the season was over, as Steph Curry broke his hand. They won 15 games before the season was ended by a worldwide pandemic.

Why am I bringing up this awful, forgettable season?

Because it felt like I was watching that team in Game 2 of the Warriors’ Western Conference Semifinals series with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Who are half these guys, and what were they doing on the floor in a playoff game?

But here’s the crazy thing:

Some of those guys might just be the key for the Warriors achieving their new postseason goal: winning one of the next three games to send this series to a Game 6.

Why six? Well, the team will be returning to San Francisco after their 117-93 Game 2 drubbing, and Curry sidelined with a hamstring injury that the team won’t even reevaluate until next Wednesday, the Dubs need to buy themselves.

A single win can give the Warriors a chance — just a chance — at Curry returning for games on May 18 and 20. Even down 3-2 in the series, the Dubs have to like their chances in win-or-go-home games with No. 30 on the court.

That crucial, season-saving win wasn’t coming Thursday. No one should have expected such a thing.

And, as almost anyone could have predicted, the Warriors turned in an absolute dud of an offensive performance in Game 2. To call their first half abysmal might be underselling it. The Warriors had a negative turnover-to-assist ratio in the first quarter — the first five minutes of the game, the Warriors had zero points on the board and I was searching through the least-desirable NBA records to see if any had been broken.

Yes, instead of Eric Paschall, Mychal Mulder, and Marquese Chris, the Warriors had a hobbled, not-even-close-to-100-percent, and kinda-going-through-the-motions Jimmy Butler, a frustrated and electable Draymond Green (a hallmark of the 2019-2020 season), a struggling Brandin Podziemski, and, once again, Braxton Key.

But amid all the bad, there was a push to start the second half — a fleeting moment where the Warriors looked like a real, honest playoff team.

And that stretch, which cut Minnesota’s lead to seven points, gives me optimism that the Dubs can find a win in the next week.

Sure, that optimism might have more to do with their opponent than the Warriors themselves, but whatever works, right? And, my goodness, does Minnesota want to give the Warriors another win.

Let’s be clear about this, though: Thursday’s game was an experiment. Warriors coach Steve Kerr is looking for seven players he can trust. Without Curry, the Warriors were without their system, and that meant everything Kerr has thought he learned about his team in recent weeks was antiquated. He was back at the drawing board Thursday, playing 14 guys in the first half.

“We have to figure out what we’re going to do in this series without Steph,” Kerr said postgame. “We gave a lot of people a lot of chances. Some people really stepped up.”

That tactic might have lost the game — the Dubs spotted the Wolves a 13-0 lead — but it might have found the seven.

Moses Moody is out. Kerr gave him time to work his way out of a slump, but when you pull up for a short transition jumper and miss the rim entirely on a 12 l-footer, you’re not coming back from the abyss. Quinten Post had his shot and lost it off the jump. This is not a Gui Santos series, either.

But Kuminga deserves a longer look after Thursday. Freed from the rules and regulations of a Curry-led system and empowered to do, simply, whatever he wants on offense, Kuminga made his first seven shots and looked excellent for stretches, including that start-of-the-second one.

Trayce Jackson-Davis looked the part of a contributor on Thursday, too. His bounce and burst, particularly in the high pick-and-roil, made (somehow) four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert look like Willie Cauley-Stein.

“Their athleticism was important,” Kerr said. “Those guys really performed well and showed why they can help us win this series.”

Let’s just start with a game.

But Kerr is right.

Between Kuminga and Jackson-Davis, Buddy Hield and Podziemski (even with his struggles), and some combination of Pat Spencer and Gary Payton II, the Warriors might have found their rotation for the remainder of this series.

Now, can they find a vintage Butler and Green game?

They’ll have two shots at one at Chase Center. Frankly, with the way Butler is laboring on defense and not attacking the rim on offense, there might only be one good shot in his legs. He’d be well served to coordinate with Green on when that burst is coming — if it’s coming.

Don’t write off these Dubs just yet, though.

Winning one of three isn’t a big ask.

But for this team, it could prove to be huge accomplishment.

And it’s doable now that Kerr has a better read on his roster and the Wolves’.

It almost felt like the Warriors were begging to be knocked out on Thursday night at Target Center. They exited the locker room at halftime trailing by 17 points and seemed more than willing to lay down if they were forced to eat another haymaker.

Instead, the Timberwolves gave them life, putting forth a stretch of play unbecoming a true contender.

Is that being too hard on the Timberwolves considering they ended up winning the game by 24 points?

Not if the ultimate goal is truly winning an NBA title.

The fact that the Timberwolves earned a 117-93 win over the Warriors to even the series at 1-all is more or less irrelevant when looking at the bigger picture. Frankly, if Steph Curry is unable to return from a strained hamstring, this should be the expected outcome moving forward.

As far the Timberwolves are concerned, the rest of the Western Conference Semifinals should be viewed through the lens of, “Is this getting us ready for the rest of the playoffs?”

There were far too many times throughout the game when the answer to that question was a resounding, “No.”

You might be able to get away with mental lapses against the Warriors when they are playing without their best player.

You won’t be able to get away with mental lapses against the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t stretches of brilliance from the Timberwolves over the course of the 48 minutes of play. They deserve credit for responding the right way after such an embarrassing effort roughly 48 hours earlier.

Not only did the Timberwolves start the game on a 13-0 run, which took the edge off in the early stages, they followed it up with a separate 12-2 run to take complete control. They also closed the game with an impressive finishing kick that emptied both benches well in advance of the final buzzer.

Some other bright spots for the Timberwolves included Julius Randle and Jaden McDaniels, who finished with 24 points and 16 points, respectively, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who was outstanding while chipping with 20 points off the bench.

It also can’t be overstated how important it was that Anthony Edwards was able to shake off a sprained ankle. After going down in a heap and being unable to put any weight on his leg as he made his way back to the locker room, Edwards emerged from tunnel after halftime to a massive ovation, then went on to finish with 20 points.

That alone should’ve given the Timberwolves enough energy to deliver the knockout blow rather than momentarily let the Warriors back into the fight with some unforced errors on both ends of the floor.

The offensive execution stagnated. The defensive intensity waned.

Luckily for the Timberwolves, the Warriors are vastly undermanned, so they ended up getting away with it in the end.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, everybody in attendance basked in the glory of what ended being a blowout. Some chants of “WOLVES IN 5” erupted from pockets of the home crowd.

If anything is clear by now at this point in the series, it’s that the Timberwolves might not even need their best for that to be prophetic.

Related Articles

Timberwolves blast Warriors’ bench for Game 2 victory

You know it’s a playoff series when both coaches cry, ‘Foul!’

Warriors’ Steph Curry details hamstring injury: ‘I’ve never dealt with this before’

Golden State has an elite defense. The Timberwolves must be willing to work to score

Frederick: It would require a massive collapse for the Timberwolves to lose this series

The Golden State Warriors came out like bandits to open the third quarter of Game 2 on Thursday, pulling to within seven of the Timberwolves early in the frame at Target Center.

Then Minnesota proceeded to respond with a massive run to reclaim a 20-point advantage by quarter’s end. It should come as no surprise that success came against Golden State’s bench.

The Timberwolves obliterated Golden State’s thinned out second unit en route to a 117-93 victory to even the Western Conference semifinals series at 1-1. Game 3 is at 7:30 p.m. Central on Saturday in San Francisco.

“We had three or four real sloppy turnovers, and then it got loose on the other end, got soft there with some of our communication and our switches,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of the start of the third quarter. “Guys were frustrated, but we re-focused pretty quickly.”

Minnesota came out with its hair on fire on Thursday, jumping out to an immediate 13-0 advantage. From there, much of the Wolves’ damage was done against the likes of reserves Pat Spencer and Moses Moody. Warriors coach Steve Kerr played all 14 of his healthy bodies in the first half of Game 2 as he looked for answers as to how Golden State can put together 48 minutes without the axis of its offense in Stephen Curry, who will miss at least a week with a hamstring injury.

It wasn’t a total waste of time, as Kerr found a bunch of options that didn’t work.

There was a point in the fourth quarter Thursday in which the Warriors trailed by 15 in a game in which it had lost Spencer’s 10 minutes by 17 points. Golden State won Brandin Podziemski’s 33 minutes on Thursday. It lost the 15 he didn’t play by 25.

Minnesota entered the series with a significant depth advantage, which has only been exacerbated by Curry’s absence. Now, Golden State has to find 36-plus additional minutes to fill with guys stepping into roles they aren’t meant to fill.

The Wolves did an excellent job making the Warriors pay for that Thursday.

Julius Randle flirted with a triple-double, tallying 24 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.

“Great all-around game from him, just what we needed,” Finch said.

Anthony Edwards — who briefly left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury, only to return to open the second half — tacked on 20 points and nine rebounds. Nickeil Alexander-Walker emerged from a shooting slump to drill four 3-pointers as Minnesota shot 43% from deep as a team.

“We were able to keep finding a rhythm,” Finch said. “I think we were able to find a rhythm tonight much better offensively.”

The Wolves’ half-court offense still struggled for large portions of the game, but it was rarely pressed as Golden State couldn’t find a way to put points on the board. Minnesota led 37-19 midway through the second quarter.

The Wolves found offensive success via the fast break (18 points), the offensive glass (16 second-chance points) and off the Warriors’ 19 turnovers (which turned into 20 points).

Golden State can’t afford to lose any of those areas, particularly not while hemorrhaging points with its second unit on the floor. With the Warriors star guard not in the current equation, Minnesota simply has far too much for the Warriors to handle.

With Curry not expected back until at least Game 5, Kerr will now have to decide if he wants to over extend his top five remaining players to take a swing at splitting Golden State’s two upcoming home games.

If he chooses to do so, Minnesota’s challenge will be to win anyway.

Related Articles

You know it’s a playoff series when both coaches cry, ‘Foul!’

Warriors’ Steph Curry details hamstring injury: ‘I’ve never dealt with this before’

Golden State has an elite defense. The Timberwolves must be willing to work to score

Frederick: It would require a massive collapse for the Timberwolves to lose this series

Mizutani: Who cares how bad the Timberwolves played? This series is over if Steph Curry is out.