Warriors Hit Historic Low Without Stephen Curry in First Quarter of Game 2 vs Timberwolves

No Steph Curry. No offense. No answers. The opening moments at Target Center felt like watching a ship set adrift with no compass. The Golden State Warriors, usually anchored by the gravity of Stephen Curry, looked lost. Their movements were slow. Their passes lacked conviction. Their shots—if you could call them that—floated like prayers into a rim that gave no grace.

Steve Kerr was already in experimentation mode just minutes into the second quarter, cycling through 13 players, hoping one might spark something. Anything. Brandin Podziemski missed a layup. Buddy Hield, the Game 1 hero, was blanketed. And Jimmy Butler, the one veteran voice who still seemed to carry belief, was shouting through a storm of silence.

Then came the stat that punched every Warriors fan in the gut.

Golden State had scored just 15 points in the first quarter. That’s their lowest-scoring opening frame in a playoff game since Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals—one of the most painful collapses in franchise memory. This wasn’t just a slow start. It was a symbolic unraveling, an echo of eras they hoped they had outgrown. And without Curry? It might not be a one-off.

What makes this sting worse is how fast the free fall happened. Minnesota didn’t explode out of the gates. The Wolves missed layups, started the game unevenly. And still—they found themselves up by 20 before the second quarter even began. Rudy Gobert was barely challenged. Anthony Edwards hadn’t even gotten hot. Yet the lead ballooned as Golden State collapsed under the weight of its own uncertainty.

Kerr once said that playoff basketball is a test of identity. Who are you when the lights are brightest? Tonight, the Warriors looked in the mirror and didn’t see champions—they saw a team desperately hoping someone, anyone, could play hero in Curry’s absence.

(This is a developing story…)

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