Warriors Cruise to 137-114 Win over Timberwolves: Steph Curry
The Golden State Warriors defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 137-114 on Sunday thanks to a 47-point first quarter from Steph Curry and Jordan Poole. Curry finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists.
For the Warriors, who improved their puzzling road record to 2-9, Klay Thompson went 5 for 8 from beyond the arc for 21 points, tying Joe Johnson (1,978) for 15th place on the NBA’s career list for 3-pointers made. They’ve won eight of their previous 11 games, including five of their last six.
With 19 points and 11 assists, Draymond Green recorded his first double-double of the year. In a game against his former team, Andrew Wiggins scored 17 points for the Warriors, who went 2 for 12 from beyond the arc in the second quarter but maintained a 20-point lead at the break.
The Wolves were outrebounded 47-31 and gave up their highest opponent score of the season, but Anthony Edwards scored 26 points for his team.
The Wolves finally got going early in the fourth quarter after the third quarter devolved into a noncommittal outside shooting practice session for both teams. The team had not been within 10 points since the middle of the first quarter after a 19-4 run that was capped by a 3-pointer from Edwards.
Curry re-entered the game at the 8:25 mark, but his first three shots were missed. He hit a 3-pointer from the wing to increase the lead to 121-108 after the Warriors called a timeout to stop the bleeding.
The Wolves, who are working through a lot of bad habits on both ends of the court, such as standing around on the perimeter on offense, added 21 points from Karl-Anthony Towns and 16 points from Jaylen Nowell off the bench. Playing against a team that is active in passing and cutting, like the Warriors, brings out this quality more clearly.
After their five-game winning streak was snapped with a defeat at Charlotte on Saturday, the Wolves suffered their second loss in as many days.
Following their slow starts to the season, the Wolves and Warriors have plenty of room to pick up speed. The Warriors, the defending NBA champions, proved in this match that they have advanced.
The Wolves faced a Warriors team that is leading the league with 13 games of 30-plus assists and has long been the league king of the 3. The Wolves were without Jaden McDaniels, their best perimeter defender, who was out due to illness.
Within the first 12 seconds of the game, Wiggins launched a left-handed slam off a Green lob, giving the Wolves plenty of work to do. A 28-4 run that the Warriors went on over a period of 4:27 was finally stopped by Nowell, who came off the bench, with his first of two consecutive 3-pointers, giving them a 40-17 lead after making 17 of their first 21 shots. The Wolves’ largest deficit this season at the end of the first quarter was 47-27.
In addition, the Warriors snapped a six-game losing streak in Minnesota that had lasted more than three years. They last triumphed at Target Center on March 19, 2019.
BODY CLOCK
Warriors coach Steve Kerr sounded nostalgic for his playing days when more matinees were on the schedule and the NBA on NBC theme song was the primary soundtrack as the Timberwolves played their first of four home afternoon games this season.
“A more typical existence results from it. You have dinner at a normal hour, get to bed at a normal hour, so I enjoy them,” Kerr said.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Based on data from Sportradar, Golden State had the second-highest first-quarter total in the NBA this year. With 48 points against Oklahoma City in November, New York was defeated. 13. … The Warriors out-assisted their opponents 36-22 and have now played seven of their last eight games with 30 or more assists.
Taking McDaniels’ place for the Timberwolves, Austin Rivers received his first career start. In 29 minutes, he scored five points. … Jordan McLaughlin, a backup PG, missed his third straight game due to a calf strain, and Taurean Prince, a backup SF, missed his second straight game due to a shoulder subluxation.
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