Make excuses, Warriors Cole defends Jimmy Butler s poor performance in Game 4

How Warriors head coach Steve Cole defended Jimmy Butler after losing to the Timberwolves on Monday.

After the Golden State Warriors lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 4, head coach Steve Cole talked about the status quo of All-Star Stephen Curry, he, Jimmy Butler and other team members in the absence of All-Star. Cole responded to Butler's performance with just 14 points before veteran Draymond Green revealed the shortcomings of Monday's defeat.

According to The Athletic's Anthony Slater, Cole believes that the Timberwolves' defense disrupted the Warriors' offensive rhythm.

"His offense wasn't that positive tonight, but I didn't see much space either," Cole said. "Ideally, we could arrange more shots around him and open up some space a little. However, with Curry's absence, we don't have much to do. That being said, we'll review the game video to see what room can be found for him, and I know he'll be aggressive in Game 5." Curry's absence in the first game of the series took a huge blow to the Warriors' offensive strategy.

"Curry's injury changed the direction of the series. So, it would be harder for everyone to take action," Cole added.

"Stephen can break through defense and create offensive fluency. I think the end result is that every player's shooting is difficult. So, I think B.P. (Blantin Podzimski) played very hard tonight and did have some very good performances. We speeded up the pace and scored 60 points in the first half. We did have some great performances, but we just failed to keep suppressing them."

Steve Cole also responded to the Warriors' 8-of-27 three-point shots when they faced Jimmy Butler in Game 4.

"We don't have enough room to defend, and there's not enough room to keep defending, we won't have a lot of open spaces, we know that," Cole said. "We do feel that if we can speed up the pace and force our opponents to make some mistakes, we can get some open shots in the conversion offense. But without Stephen, the game will change, we have to adjust accordingly, and we may not shoot as many three-pointers."

Draymond Green talks about the "bad things" of the Warriors' fourth game loss

According to 95.7 The Game, Warriors forward Draymond Green emphasized the most prominent point of losing to the Timberwolves in the fourth game at the media meeting.

"Their shots were excellent. I think we had a good defense, but they started to exert force, but they never failed to put out their firepower," Green said. "They must be praised - it feels like they should have had a great shooting night. Unfortunately tonight was that way, but that's the case. We just found the answer in Game 5."

Timberwolves will host the Warriors at home on Wednesday for Game 5.