The Minnesota Timberwolves made quick work of the Golden State Warriors in the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, dispatching the 2022 NBA champions in five games while their 2-time MVP Stephen Curry was missing for most of the series due to a strained hamstring.
Golden State’s 2017 Defensive Player of the Year and 4-time NBA champion Draymond Green did his best to assist in keeping the team’s season alive, but the 6-foot-6 defensive force was met with a tall task throughout the series.
Minnesota’s 3-time All-Star and 2021 Most Improved Player award winner Julius Randle was a man on a mission in the second round, as he contributed 25.2 points, 7.4 assists and 6.6 rebounds on a ridiculous 62.9% true shooting percentage in the Western Conference Semi-Finals, sending Green and the Warriors home in dominant fashion.
Green was slotted as Randle’s matchup for most of the series, and the all-time great defender made sure to tip his cap to the Timberwolves’ versatile scoring power forward during a recent episode of his podcast, The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis.
“Julius is incredible,” Green shared Monday.
“Another reason why I said this series is like (2019 NBA Finals vs. Toronto Raptors) to me. I think that was my 34th playoff series, but I could be off by one or two, give or take. The only other series where I felt like I lost my matchup like that was (against) Toronto.”
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“I feel like I lost my matchup against Pascal Siakam.”
“And this series also reminds me of that series because I don’t (just) feel like I lost my matchup, I lost my matchup.”
“Honestly, some of the shots he was taking (were) shots that you want him to take, and he made them. At the end of the day, the game oftentimes comes down to shot-making, and he made the shots.”
“I got to give it to him, man. He got the better of me, with all respect. You know, I’m never a guy who’s going to hide from the truth. He was a tough cover, one of the tougher covers I’ve had in a playoff series.”
The 4-time All-Star and 8-time All-Defensive Team selection Green placed high praise upon Minnesota’s star, and it was certainly well-deserved.
In the Timberwolves’ closeout Game 5 victory on May 14, Randle poured in a game-high 29 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists while shooting 72.2% from the floor in 42 minutes of action, effectively earning a major stamp of approval from the Warriors’ future Hall of Fame inductee and helping his group advance to the Western Conference Finals for the second consecutive season.
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