MINNEAPOLIS — The Warriors showed up with their top-shelf game, but when the going got tough in the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves proved what the standings say: they’re a class above Golden State.
Golden State forced Anthony Edwards (23 points, eight assists, six rebounds) to be a playmaker, had five scorers in double digits and won the turnover battle, but it wasn’t enough. After outplaying the Timberwolves for three quarters, the Warriors ran out of answers when it mattered most.
In a 114-110 loss, the Warriors (36-34) allowed 36 points in the fourth quarter. The game had playoff intensity, and a Timberwolves team contending for the top seed in the Western Conference fit right in.
With the victory, Minnesota completed a season sweep of the Warriors, who continue to struggle against the NBA’s elite teams.
“They’re an NBA team, too,” Draymond Green said. “By the standings, they’re a much better NBA team. You can not have breakdowns. You’re going to lose. And if you play against a team that is technically better than you, and you have breakdowns, you’re always going to lose.
“That’s why we’re losing a lot right now.”
Despite recent turbulence, even if it feels far from reality, the Warriors still had a claim as one of the smoothest sailing teams over the past month entering Sunday night’s game.
Since Jan. 30, only two teams had won more games than the Warriors. Golden State led the league in rebounds and assists per game in that stretch. They won 10 of 12 at one point. They beat the Lakers in Los Angeles and thumped the Bucks by 35. They got healthy and found an identity.
But after Sunday night’s loss — one Green said Golden State “for sure” should have won — the Warriors remain firmly entrenched in 10th and in danger of falling out of the postseason altogether.
Golden State’s close defeat in the Target Center tips off a five-city, triple time-zone week that includes two more games this week against Eastern Conference playoff contenders in Miami and Orlando.
The Warriors have four more games in the next six days. Houston, now a game behind Golden State for the 10th seed, is breathing down their necks. As Chris Paul said on Friday, nobody’s going to feel sorry for them.
Even at their best, with a fully healthy revamped rotation centered around Green at the five, the Warriors have only fleetingly looked like a true contender.
Much has been made about their curiously inverted home-road splits, but the reality is much simpler: against teams above .500, they’re now 17-29 on the year. They’re 1-10 against Minnesota, Oklahoma City, and Denver — the top three seeds in the West.
Against Minnesota, after what coach Steve Kerr called an “alarming” film session over Golden State’s loss to Indiana, the Warriors played with much more intensity.
Golden State’s defense, which has slipped in March, was locked in against the Timberwolves. They trapped Edwards on most ball screens and handoffs on the perimeter, jamming up Minnesota’s half-court rhythm. In the first quarter alone, the Warriors forced nine turnovers. As the game progressed, they showed Edwards different defenders and schemes.
The Warriors held Minnesota to 46 first-half points. Even when Edwards got going toward the end of the half, Golden State was forcing him into difficult shots. Naz Reid, whom Kerr tabbed a “Warriors killer” before the game, kept the Timberwolves alive by hitting his first five 3-pointers.
Golden State led by as much as 12 and went into halftime with an eight-point edge.
Then in the fourth, the Timberwolves ramped up their energy. It seemed like they knew they had another gear to kick into. They looked faster. Their 3s fell. With Steph Curry on the bench, Minnesota went on a 12-5 run to start the fourth quarter. Minnesota claimed their first lead since the opening minutes.
Curry only played 29 minutes as Kerr looks to get him rest whenever they can in a five-games-in-seven-days stretch.
“We can’t expect to just ride Steph game after game,” Kerr said.
The Warriors slipped with Curry off the floor and couldn’t fully regain their footing. Kerr called a pair of timeouts to try to stop Minnesota’s momentum. Thompson hit a pair of 3s, Gary Payton II tipped in a miss and Trayce Jackson-Davis rolled to the rim for a jam to claw back within three. A second-chance Curry 3 knotted the game at 104.
The Warriors stayed in lockstep, but never took the lead again. Curry raced down the court to crack 30 points and bring the Warriors back within one with 14.9 seconds left. But Thompson’s contested 3-pointer rimmed out with six seconds left, sending the Warriors to Miami, their next city, on a loss.
To stay afloat in Florida against the Heat and Magic, the Warriors might simply need more Curry minutes — at the very least.
“The situation will define itself pretty clearly,” Curry said of his minutes. “And it kind of is, in real-time.
“Every game matters. We’re inching closer to the other side of the standings we never thought we’d be in. Nobody’s going to wave the white flag and say we’re mailing it in. If that means playing more minutes, I’ll be ready to do that.”
