Warriors vs. Timberwolves Bold Predictions for Round 2 NBA Playoffs Series

The Houston Rockets pushed them to the brink in the first round, but the Golden State Warriors are through to the conference semifinals after winning Sunday's Game 7, 103-89.

Now, Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and company are on to face the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team with far more playoff experience than Houston.

The matchup presents difficulties and opportunities for both sides. And we have bold predictions for the series below.

This might not seem all that bold, given what we just saw from the Warriors against Houston. With or without their two-big lineups, the Rockets were able to dominate the glass. And Golden State's traditional centers often looked outmatched.

But the Warriors actually had better marks than Minnesota in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage during the regular season. And they may be looking to prove something after getting physically bullied for much of the first round.

That won't be enough to overcome another significant size disadvantage, though.

Both these teams could be waiting to see who'll blink first. Will the Timberwolves go small in an effort to match Golden State? Will the Warriors try to make them go small by doing it first?

After Rudy Gobert's monster 27-point, 24-rebound performance in Game 5 against the Lakers, expect Minnesota to stick with their starting center for close to his normal minutes load, regardless of what Golden State does.

And expect for his minutes alongside Julius Randle to lead to some big rebounding games and a general advantage for the Timberwolves on the boards.

Even with a second-half scoring outburst from Stephen Curry that put Game 7 on ice for the Warriors, he finished that contest with 22 points and an average of 24.0 for the series.

That may sound a little low for those who've followed Curry closely over the last decade and change, but it was just 0.5 off his average from the 2023-24 regular season.

That level of production isn't going to cut it at this point in the playoffs, though. And if anyone knows that, it's (arguably) the greatest point guard of all time.

Expect the Warriors to look for more opportunities to spring him loose in the second round. And expect Curry to take advantage of them.

Minnesota has some interesting defenders to throw at him, like Edwards and McDaniels, but they'll also need to spend some time on Butler, too. They're both a little better suited to defend bigger wings than Amen Thompson, who was a nightmare for Curry to deal with.

Even marginally more space, with Curry should have without Thompson chasing him around, should lead to more scoring.

Prior to this season, Julius Randle had just 15 playoff games to his name. He averaged 17.1 points, but he only shot 34.4 percent from the field in those contests. His turnovers (3.9) outnumbered his assists (3.7) per game.

And his box plus/minus over those two postseason runs was well below average.

But in his first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, Randle played like an All-Star. He averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.2 threes, while shooting 39.3 percent from deep.

His defense frustrated several Lakers, and he routinely blew by Luka Dončić outside. Even the jump shot was falling, which was perhaps his biggest problem in those earlier cracks at the playoffs.

And while the Warriors have some good options to throw at him, including Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler, they're not going to shut him down altogether.

Randle looks as poised as he ever has. And that's going to lead to another big series.

Most members of the organization who were around when he was are now gone, but the revenge factor that comes with Jimmy Butler facing the Minnesota Timberwolves is still going to fuel him to have a big series.

That will come in the form of more scoring than he was able to do in the first round, when he averaged 18.3 points. It will lead to ferocious defense, some of which will be on Anthony Edwards. It'll impact his playmaking, too, making life easier for the rest of the Warriors.

But most notably, Butler is going to completely take over at least one game down the stretch. And though this prediction feels awfully specific, that's going to lead to a game-winner.

At 23 years old, Anthony Edwards is already putting together a ridiculous playoff resume. Beyond career postseason averages of 27.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 3.1 threes and 1.4 steals, Edwards' list of stars he's eliminated is absurd.

Last season, he (and his team) took down Kevin Durant and Devin Booker in the first round, followed by Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray in the second. This year, he's already beaten LeBron James and Luka Dončić.

Now, he has an opportunity to add Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. And he's going to take full advantage of it.

The Warriors' star trio isn't going to make it easy, but with Edwards' star power, Minnesota's size and depth (Donte DiVincenzo, Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker all could've started for other play-in teams) and the specter of home-court advantage, the Timberwolves are going to win this series and return to the conference finals.