Minnesota Timberwolves stripped Stephen Curry of injury to beat the Golden State Warriors 117-93 and balanced it in Thursday's NBA Western Conference semi-final series.

A fierce Timberwolves lineup was stunned by the Warriors in their first game on Tuesday, as they had been controlling Minneapolis' line-to-line victory, which gave the series a 1-1 victory.

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Julius Randle led Minnesota with 24 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds, while Anthony Edwards scored with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 20 points to the bench, including four three-pointers, on a night when five Timberwolves finished in double figures.

Jonathan Kuminga led the Warriors with 18 points from the bench and Jimmy Butler finished with 17 points.

Edwards said Minnesota's defensive efforts improved after a dismal offensive performance in the first game loss.

"We watched the movie yesterday and we saw more than just that we didn't shoot the footage - it was our defensive effort and intensity. We didn't bring it."

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“So we know we have to bring it today.”

With Golden State on the floor with a hamstring injury in Game 1, Minnesota set the tone early in the first quarter and led 25-7 to get the Warriors to chase the game.

Minnesota was frightened when Edwards had an ankle problem in the second quarter, but the Timberwolves entered the half-time with a 56-39 lead.

Edwards returned to the third quarter to start, but Minnesota was attacked by early Golden State.

Butler and Kuminga scored eight points in a rally, helping the Warriors cut the Timberwolves' lead by 7 points by 62-55, while the third time was less than seven minutes left.

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Timberwolves regrouped impressively and finished the quarter with a 20-5 record, reaching the final frame with an 85-65 lead.

Without the threat of a deadly three-pointer curry, the Warriors never seemed to close the gap, with Golden State coach Steve Kerr running the White Flag with four minutes left to move his starter off the coast of Minnesota.

Kerr said his team learned valuable lessons on how to learn without amulet curry competition when he returned to San Francisco on Saturday.

The 11th-class All-Star Curry was ruled out for at least one week on Wednesday.

"We're trying to figure out what we're going to be able to do in this series without Stephen, so we've given a lot of people a lot of opportunities," Kerr said of his roster.

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“I think we did a very intense run to get the lead down to seven, but then we lost a little calming. We turned it around a few times and gave up two-thirds when we lost our defensive connection.

“But we learned a lot and I think this game will help us figure out how to move forward.”

RCW/PST