Draymond’s success is KEY for Warriors’ CHAMPIONSHIP RUN 🏆 + Ant-Man’s criticism 👀 | First Take

Draymond’s success is KEY for Warriors’ CHAMPIONSHIP RUN 🏆 + Ant-Man’s criticism 👀 | First Take

because the Golden State Warriors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves last night 99 to 88 and they did it mostly without Steph Curry. Steph injured his hamstring in the second quarter. He’ll have further testing done today. Curry finished with 13 points in 13 minutes. And so here’s his head coach Steve Cerr on what the expectation is for Golden State Superstar. I talked to him at halftime. you know, he’s obviously crushed, but um, you know, the guys picked him up and played a great game and um, obviously we’re all, you know, concerned about Steph, but it’s part of part of the game. Any team with me on it, I think has a chance and I know that any team with Steph on it does have a chance. And my guys believe it, too. Um, they work so hard at their craft every single day. Um, they don’t shy away from any moment, from any matchup. They’ll do whatever you ask them to do to make sure that we have a chance of winning. And uh we going to need all hands on deck if 30 is not ready to go. Always will love Jimmy Butler’s confidence. Hello Jay Williams. What’s up Shay? Good morning to you. Uh I’m going to start with doggy here though. Jimmy Butler was very good yesterday. Hello there Jay. Hello Stephen A. Pleasantries. Hello. Okay. He’s not talking to you. There you go. Just a nod. Um Jimmy Butler was really good yesterday. Two assists shy of a triple double. Great. But can Jimmy Butler carry this Golden State team now if Steph isn’t good to go? He’s probably at least gonna miss the next game, but talk about the rest of the series later. What do you think, Matt Do? No, I do not. And uh I thought that Minnesota I would have picked them before this series. They were a huge favorite. I’m surprised they played so poorly. Draymond Green had the best first half I’ve ever seen him play. Offensively, he played great offensively. They scored 14 points. He made four threes. And obviously Butler is going to do what he does. He’s going to, you know, he’s going to fill the stat sheet. And Buddy Heel’s playing well right now. He played great against Houston in game seven and he had what do you have about 20 something points last night. He played very well. I mean game was on so darn late which is another story alto together. But he would you know played well last night. But I still believe in Minnesota. I’m going to give them a little pass because they had to lay off. Um they’re not great at home sometimes. You know Dallas last year beat him there. So did the Nuggets. But I I’m going to give them a little pass. I’m going to give them a game to sort of get their wind under him in the second round. I think Minnesota still wins this series. And obviously without Curry, they got a much better chance to win a series. No, Curry will bounce back. I just don’t I don’t think he’s gonna play game two. Jay doggy, you’re surprised that that’s that feels very disrespectful to the Warriors. You know, they’re three and one versus the Timberwolves this year, right? Without Butler any of the time any What does that say? And you know, this team has been the number one defensive team in the league since Jimmy Butler has made the trade. And you know the reason why they were everybody keeps talking about how great they were against the Lakers and the physicality and I I give them a lot of credit for that. But when I know that the Lakers play ISO basketball and the Lakers also play more of a containment defense. The thing that makes Warriors basketball really good now is the fact they actually put pressure on the perimeter. Guys like Edwards tried to force the gap multiple times last night and couldn’t find his rhythm. So look, I think a lot is dependent upon when Steph is able to come back. We’ll learn if that’s a grade one sprain. If that is, that could be one of two weeks. But you could make a case that all Jimmy Butler needs to do is get you one game in the next four and then a 3-2 when he comes back for games. Yes. If you can give him two weeks of break and he get he does the right kind of rehab. Jimmy Butler has carried some other teams with lesser personnel. No offense to Goran Dragage and Duncan Robinson and all these guys he took to the NBA finals, okay? And who they beat in Milwaukee and Indiana. He just needs to give you one. If he can give you one against a team that actually defensively doesn’t play defense to the style in which the Golden State Warriors play, that’s all you’re asking. Stevie, it’s a it’s a couple of things to think about here. Number one, um I think that it it’s okay to have Minnesota as a favorite in this series when you consider their size, their defensive prowess, how undersized Golden State is. Um assuming that the Ant-Man shows up. But then game one took place and you couldn’t even recognize them. Where the hell was Ant-Man? I totally agree with Coach Finch calling him out the way that he did. He wants to say he played tough defense. It’s just that nothing was going offensively, but the reality is is that you saw him and I mean this is this was he’s hit more three-pointers than anybody this season. Yet, I mean, when you saw his first few three-point shots, they were bricks. They weren’t even close. And you’re just looking at Ant-Man like what the hell is going on here? That’s number one. Number two, Steph Curry 13 points in 13 minutes before suffering his hamstring injury. As as Jay Williams pointed out on numerous occasions over the last few days, you know what? You you you can’t hit what your eyes can’t see. They’re a moving target. Yeah, you’re you’re bigger than them, but these guys are constantly on the move. Their spacing is is is there. They move without the basketball. They can hurt you from the perimeter with Steph, with a Buddy Healed, with a Jimmy Butland. Then you turn around and you’ve got a a Buddy Heel looking like the second coming of Klay Thompson and you got Draymond Green hitting four threes in the first half. I couldn’t believe what I saw him doing. And I’ve often said this Jay Will that if if you remember when when years ago when Draymond got suspended for the game five when Adam Silva in the NBA gave LeBron James that stimulus package, you know, basically suspending Draymond and ultimately Bogat and and Andre Iguadala get hurt in the game five and then they come back from a 3-1 deficit and they win the series in seven games. Remember that game seven was when Draymond had about 30 or so because he was hitting threes from all over the place. And I’ve often said if that Draymond Green shows up, if Draymond Green hits open jump shots, the Warriors could win it all. Because when you look at what the rest of them bring to the table, clearly they know how to defend. They’re exceptionally well coached. They get contributions from other dudes. Okay? But if Draymond is left open and he buries those shots, they can beat anybody. And that’s what happened last night with Minnesota. The question is, do we think it’s going to last? If it lasts, Golden State wins this series. If it doesn’t, Ant-Man still has to show up. He can’t be what he was in game one and expect the Minnesota Timberwolves to advance. That’s not going to fly. Well, let’s just do a little math. They got 55 points the Warriors did last night from healed Draymond and Curry’s 13. Curry’s probably not going to play game two. And Green’s not going to make four threes again. And I got to see he’ll do this on a consistent basis. He did it last series. He did one game, game seven. He played Yeah, he that’s a pretty good data. No, I know. So, but still, he’s a little inconsistent. Be fair. You’re going to count on 24 points a game from him in this series? I can’t count on that. That’s not fair. All I’m saying is everybody keeps talking about size. Size does nothing for you when you’re forced to play on a perimeter. Who won the rebounding battle last night? I’m sure that that the Warriors were plus 10. Warriors had 18 offensive rebounds, long rebounds. I’m just saying very different style. I agree with you that I think the Wolves are going to bounce back. No doubt about it. I’m just saying I think this is going to be a series. Well, I mean I I could see obviously six games. What did Minnesota shoot from three last night? Five for 29. They are a very good three-point shooting team. Those weren’t open looks, doggy. I mean, those were contested looks. They were playing with their back towards the basket. And I’m gonna say one last thing. I got I got I’d have to look at all the shots, but you’re going to get some open looks when you miss that many. Take that many of them, right? Can’t be all contested. Yeah. I I have something for Stephen A. Stephen A. We got into this little thing the other day and I did your show the other day was great. We talked about Jason Tatum. He said, “Wasn’t a good time for me to talk about him being the face of the league.” Um, do do you feel that we’ve kind of crowned Aunt Edwards with that nonsense? Crowned Aunt Edwards the face of the league. I knew you were going to say that all this guy does is talk and he has yet to show us something for and yesterday was a good example. I’m sorry, but go on. Hold on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Shay, that about hold on, hold on. Let me answer. Jumped on. I think that’s a bit harsh. Shay, that’s a bit harsh. Shay was about Don’t try to put it on me now. You said it now. You said it. Don’t call me. I just want to see him be about there’s a slight delay. There’s a there there’s a slight delay here. I’m in the mountains. You That’s why I got in this turtleneck. It’s cold here. Okay. I mean, it’s slight delay. Work with me, y’all. So, let’s let’s look at this. Ant-Man has sent home Kevin Durant and Devin Booker and Bradley Bill via a sweep. He sent home Joic and Jamal Murray in a game seven on their home turf and then he turns around this year and sends home Luca and LeBron in five games. I’m not saying that we should be satisfied with what we saw last night because we expected more from him. But let’s not act Shay like act like this man doesn’t have the potential to be the face of the league that he hasn’t done some big things already. Now I’m disappointed in what I saw from Ant-Man last night. You know why I’m disappointed? Because my expectations were higher and my expectations were higher because I’ve seen him deliver. It’s not like he’s never delivered. This isn’t some James Harden that appears allergic to game sevens or the game five six or game five and sevens or whatever sixes or whatever one you want to pick. It depends on the season with James Harden. Okay, this is Ant-Man that we’re talking about here. He has delivered and the series ain’t over. He just has to play better than he did last night. That was that was an aberration. We don’t normally see Ant-Man playing like that. You want to take it? All I’m saying there aren’t a lot of data points to see how Ant-Man plays this late in the playoffs. That’s for a reason. I’m not saying that he can’t be right, but I’m saying my man hasn’t been to the Western Conference Finals yet, and people will talk about him like it’s his. I’m just saying it could be yours. You just got to go take it before somebody gives it. But but but Jay, I I agree with you there because obviously we saw how Kyrie and Luca took him out in the conference finals last year. The flip side to it, Jay, is that if you’re balling, and I give you a list of Hall of Famers that you took out in route to that, I can’t ignore that. Now, that doesn’t mean he’s Jason Tatum who’s a champion. Okay, we get that part and I understand what you’re saying. I’m just saying look at the names that this brother has sent home. Agreed. I’m just saying those names are 35 and older. Just just saying the biggest names. Not Booker. Yeah. But yeah, like what do we talk about Booker? I know he What do you talk about Booker? All right, we got to go. I look I hear I hear you, Stephen A. He can get there eventually. He’s just done a lot of talking and then to show up like this against a team that’s older, had to travel two time zones and then play and show up that way. It’s easy to criticize. That’s all I’m going to say. All right. That’s true. That’s true. But he did talk after he sent them home. I mean, it wasn’t like he told him what he was going to do and then went out and did it. Fair. He’s not Michael Jordan yet, Stevie. We’ll revisit this later. Not yet. He never will be. And he never will be. Don’t go there. What?

On First Take, Jay Williams, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and Stephen A Smith react to the Warriors’ Game 1 win vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

0:00 Can Jimmy Butler III carry the Warriors without Steph?
4:08 Stephen A. questions Ant-Man’s performance
5:55 Draymond is key to Warriors’ championship run
7:51 Ant-Man’s criticism

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