The Golden State Warriors returned to winning ways with a 114-106 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Chase Center. This was the Warriors’ second encounter in three days in San Francisco, and they were able to avenge their 107-90 loss the previous day.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors’ offense with 30 points (8-18 FG), four rebounds, eight assists, and a steal. With Andrew Wiggins absent, Buddy Hield was put into the starting lineup and performed admirably, ending with 27 points (10-18 FG), four rebounds, two assists, and three steals.
Jonathan Kuminga had a 20-point outing of his own and Draymond Green put the exclamation point on the night with a thunderous dunk and the “Night Night” celebration.
Warriors fans were understandably thrilled after the game.
“Vibes are back, we getting that top spot soon,” one fan believes the Warriors will be back on top in the West soon.
“We are winning the championship,” another believes the Warriors are going to win it all this season.
“Buddy Hield should be a starter from now on,” one fan wants Hield to remain a starter after this display.
“Draymond with the Night Night lmao,” a fan loved Green doing the “Night Night” celebration.
“Finally not blowing a lead in crunchtime,” one fan was relieved the team didn’t blow another game in the fourth quarter.
This game very nearly could have turned out to be yet another heartbreaking loss for the Warriors this season. They were up 102-91 with just under seven minutes left in the fourth quarter but blew that lead within minutes as the Timberwolves went on a 15-3 run to take a 106-105 lead.
The Warriors have blown one too many games due to disastrous fourth quarters this season and it looked like this was going to be another one of those nights. To their credit, they responded with a 9-0 run to close out the contest and improved to 14-9 on the season.
For the Timberwolves, meanwhile, this was a brutal loss. They failed to score a point in the final four and a half minutes of this game and that’s just not good enough.
Anthony Edwards has to take some of the blame for that disastrous end to the game. Edwards had 27 points (10-19 FG), five rebounds, six assists, and one steal on the night, but missed his last six shots and had a costly turnover as well.
That vaunted Timberwolves defense also didn’t play up to standard in this game and as a result, they have now dropped to 12-11 on the season. They’ll look to right the wrongs from this defeat when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers next at Target Center on Friday at 8 PM ET.
The Warriors, meanwhile, will take on the Houston Rockets next at Toyota Center on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup.
