The Timberwolves have had some ugly losses this season. For a variety of reasons, Wednesday’s 116-115 defeat at the hands of the Warriors may be near the top of the list.
Golden State was sans four of its rotation players in Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski and Kyle Anderson and also on the last leg of a four-game road trip. The Warriors season is quickly draining into the tank.
But Minnesota’s start in the nationally-televised bout was so poor that the Warriors had no choice but to take the massive early lead and run with it.
The Timberwolves delivered perhaps their worst quarter of the season — which is saying something — out of the gates Wednesday. Per tradition, Target Center fans don’t sit until the home team scores its first points of the contest. They were left on their feet for the first four and a half minutes of the game as the team dug itself a 13-0 deficit.
Minnesota trailed 34-12 after the opening 12 minutes.
“The game was lost in the first quarter,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “That’s the obvious statement.”
Donte DiVincenzo noted the Warriors (20-20) — who entered the night as losers of four of their previous five games — “came out with energy.”
“They came out how we should’ve come out. There’s no excuses. I think we just have to be better to start the game,” he said. “We start the game differently, this is a different story.”
That’s a common theme for this year’s Wolves. Had they just not turned it over, had they just grabbed a couple extra defensive rebounds, had they just not had the one bad quarter, then everything would be dandy. But the “if onlys” are piling up, and dooming Minnesota (21-19) to mediocrity. Over the back half of the season, Rudy Gobert — who was a major culprit in the defensive rebounding issues Wednesday — hopes the Wolves can be more consistent.
“Not being a team that plays with the right mindset by waves, but trying to be consistent with our mindset and our focus and our physicality,” he said. “If we do that, I think the game takes care of itself. We’ve been getting better offensively. I think our chemistry is getting better, our IQ is getting better, trying to play for one another. Just our mindset, consistency, being focused on defense, being focused on not having those stretches when we are a completely different team because of our lack of focus, or a lack of whatever it is – physicality or competitive mindset. Reduce those lapses. And, when we do that, we’re really good.”
To the Wolves credit, they fought back from there and were within striking distance throughout the second half. The third quarter was a fouling exhibition, with Minnesota attempting 20 free throws in the frame, and Golden State taking 10. A hot start in the final frame pulled Minnesota to within six early in the quarter. And the Wolves pulled even in the closing minutes.
But, despite Minnesota’s best efforts to keep him from doing so, Steph Curry found numerous different ways to get off good looks in the fourth, and cashed the majority of them.
On the other end, Minnesota struggled to generate good looks when it needed them most.
Still, the Wolves had a chance in the final 10 seconds. Golden State led by two when Gary Payton II missed his second free throw. But Golden State grabbed its 14th offensive rebound of the evening off the miss, the Warriors got the ball to Curry, who buried both free throws to put Golden State up four and give the star guard 31 points on the evening.
Anthony Edwards came down the floor and buried a triple with just a second to play, but it was largely moot. The clock expired on the ensuing inbounds.
“We did get a chance to come back in the game,” Gobert said, “but we can’t allow ourselves to put ourselves in that position.”
The Warriors are now 8-16 in their last 24 games. Three of those wins have come against the Wolves. And now Minnesota carries a loss into its toughest five-game stretch of the season, which starts with a back to back featuring a game in New York against the Knicks on Friday, and a home bout with Cleveland on Saturday.
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