Analysis: The Warriors offense is sluggish when they are fighting the Timberwolves. How should they adjust to return to the road to winning the championship

After a series of bad offensive performances, the Warriors need to get the shooters to play at their best to save the series against the Timberwolves.

Look at the Golden State Warriors' terrible offense without Stephen Curry in the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, it's easy to feel that Jimmy Butler needs to work harder to find shots.

Of course, in the case of having to win in the fourth game, Butler only made 9 moves to avoid falling behind 1-3, which is obviously not ideal. Perhaps Butler could have used his personal offensive ability more actively. But as Steve Cole pointed out after losing to the Timberwolves 110-117, Butler's defensive investment was too big in the face of insufficient space.

"Butler's offense wasn't that aggressive tonight," Cole said after Game 4. "But I didn't see much space either. Ideally, we could arrange more shooting opportunities around him and open up a little space. But with Stephen's absence, we could hardly do that." The Warriors' offensive dilemma did not start with Butler's sluggish shooting ability. In the competitive third game, he scored 33 points from the Warriors, but the team still lost. The problem is that the shooting ability of the players that the Warriors have been relying on is in a deep sluggish shooting ability.

Inventory of the Warriors' "theoretical scorer"

In addition to Curry (who was absent in this round of series) and Buddy Hilder, the Warriors are a team with "theoretical scorer" as the core. When these shooters are in good shape, they look like a championship-level team. And when they are in poor form, they have difficulty getting 100 points in many games.

Frankly, Brandin Podzimsky, Moses Moody and Quentin Post failed to hit enough jump shots in this round of the series. With their outstanding shooting abilities, these three young role players played an important role in the Warriors' strong rebound after the trade deadline. But their shooting percentages were almost evaporated except for Podzimsky's six three-pointers in Game 4 of the Houston Rockets series.

In this series, Podzimsky's three-point shooting percentage was only 17.6%. Meanwhile, Moody and Post were almost in a state of no ball to play due to poor shooting in the series against the Rockets, and the two combined only hit two three-pointers. They are both young and lack experience in the playoffs, but the Warriors know that when they enter the playoffs, they need to rely on their shooting abilities. Despite the signs that they can keep this fiery shooting, they didn't do it. That's why the Warriors were behind 1-3 even if Curry was out. The Warriors are in a strange situation now. While their theoretical scorers weren't doing well in this series, their inside threats did a great job against the Timberwolves. Jonathan Cumingga and Teres Jackson Davis, two players who fell out of the Warriors' rotation before the series, performed very well. Even Kevin Rooney finds some scoring opportunities on offensive rebounds from time to time.

Although their scoring ability is crucial, this does not solve the problem of the Warriors lacking space. Because when Cole is forced to use Hilder as the only player around Butler who is truly a three-pointer threat, the Minnesota Timberwolves will put pressure on Butler without hesitation. Whether it's blocking Butler's breakthrough or returning to defense as he enters the defensive center, the Timberwolves are challenging any other team to beat them. Where will the Warriors' offense go next?

However, if the Warriors want to get back on track in this series, it is necessary to make everyone more decisive. Among the remaining playoff teams, the Warriors have the most 24-hour violations this season, reaching 17. These 24-hour violations are all blamed on the Warriors' refusal to shoot openly. That doesn't include the round where the Warriors players pass the grenade-like pass to another player near the end of the 24-hour period. The Warriors have been passive without Curry, and they know that themselves. Draymond Green talked about this issue at a post-match press conference.

"Everyone has to shoot," Green said. "You get the opportunity, you have to let go. I think sometimes we miss some opportunities. When Curry is away, sometimes the first good opportunity is the best opportunity. When Curry is present, you can give up some opportunities because... he can make a lot of dominoes. But when he is not present, you give up the first open opportunity and may never find another opportunity in the future."

They have to solve this problem after Curry misses the fifth game. As the two-time MVP winner missed Game 5, the understaffed Warriors will challenge the Minnesota Timberwolves away, facing the fate of being eliminated. It may be too late to repair the offensive system and save the season now. But even more crazier things have happened, and this usually starts with the shooters being fully fired.