SAN FRANCISCO – The Minnesota Timberwolves are in a race against the calendar and the healing power of Stephen Curry’s left hamstring to close this series out. To do that, they might have to finish the series in five games, before Curry might return for a potential Game 6.

After an easy win in Game 2, Game 3 was anything but, as the Golden State Warriors ground out the game against a struggling Wolves offense – and Jimmy Butler appeared unguardable most of the night.

Despite a maddening game that featured 21 Wolves turnovers, they still came away with a 102-97 victory to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Game 4 is Monday in San Francisco.

Anthony Edwards woke up from a sleepy first half to finish with 36. Julius Randle had a triple double with 24 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds while Mike Conley turned in some stellar defense down the stretch to help the Wolves seal it. Butler finished with 33 while Jonathan Kuminga had 30 for the Warriors.

A 7-0 Wolves run gave them an 84-82 lead on an Edwards 3 with 6:16 to play. The teams traded stops before Draymond Green fouled out of the game with 4:38 to play after picking up two fouls in two possessions, the fifth coming after the Wolves won a challenge to overturn a defensive foul on Randle to an offensive foul on Green. The Wolves led 87-84 when a 3 from Jaden McDaniels put them up six with 3:20 to play. Then Rudy Gobert put them ahead 93-86 with a dunk and three-point play with 2:05 left. An Edwards 3 off his own previous miss put the Wolves back up seven and Conley clinched the game on the defensive end by drawing an offensive foul.

Tied after one

The Wolves jumped on top with a pair of 3s from Conley and Edwards for an 8-2 lead. They went on a 8-0 run that put them up 16-8 when Edwards got going toward the rim. He finished the quarter 3 for 8 and found Gobert for a dunk that pushed the Wolves’ lead to eight. Both teams were careless with the ball in the first quarter, as both teams had five turnovers.

Golden State had it best burst of offense toward the end of the quarter after the Wolves went up 21-12. Butler scored six points on a 9-0 run that tied the score 21-21 at the end of the quarter. Butler finished the quarter with 11 while the Wolves shot 8 for 24.

More of the same

The Wolves flipped the game momentarily with their start to the second, but the turnovers soon returned. The first quarter was rough for Reid, who committed two fouls and didn’t score in three minutes of action. But he nailed a pair of 3s in a 13-4 Wolves run to open the second. But he would pick up his third foul with 5:44 to play.

After Randle got his first 3 of the game to drop (he opened 1 for 5), the Wolves had their first double-digit lead of the night, 39-29, and forced a timeout from Steve Kerr.

Gobert had spent part of the quarter back in the Wolves locker room, but he re-emerged from the tunnel in the early part of the second. The Wolves offense went cold after getting that 10-point lead and went scoreless for the next 4:41. They didn’t have a field goal until then after taking that 39-29 lead with 6:30 to play. That led to a 13-1 Golden State run to close the quarter, with Butler scoring 18 points. The Wolves were up to 10 turnovers by the end of the first half. They shot just 34%. Edwards had just one point in the second quarter.

Halftime didn’t change much for the Wolves, as Butler continued to control the game on offense and the Wolves’ offense couldn’t get much going in the opening minutes. He was up to 28 as Golden State grabbed a small lead before Edwards began attacking the rim on offense. He had 15 in the quarter as the game stayed within one possession either way for several minutes.

Both Gobert and Green picked up four fouls in the quarter and went to the bench, with Golden State losing its challenge in an attempt to save Green from his fourth foul. But the Warriors kept chipping away at the Wolves with Green out, and six straight Golden State points put the Warriors up 67-62 and forced a timeout from Finch with 2:02 to play.

After not hitting any 3s in the first half, Golden State hit six in the third quarter.

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