Warriors 110 - 114 Timberwolves summary, stats, scores and highlights
The T'Wolves pulled away by as many as 8 in the 4th quarter, but the Warriors would come battling back and give themselves a chance to tie the game late on but Klay Thompson couldn't hit the three and Minnesota held on for a huge win. That means they trail Denver by just a game as the Thunder got blown out by the Bucks to knock them off the lead in the West.
After their loss at Target Center, the Warriors now don't just have to be worried about the 10th in the Play-In, they have to worry about the Houston Rockets who are quickly closing in on them.
It was snowing in Minnesota on Sunday evening, but inside the Target Center the T'Wolves were red hot from DT. Conley hit three of the 21 triples made against the Warriors, but it was Naz Reid that stole the show from the perimeter with 6 makes on 8 attempts as Minnesota shot 52.5% from downtown.
Rudy Gobert missed the game against Denver on Thursday, but he played against the Cavs and was available for the game against an undersized Warriors team. He had 17 and 12 as Golden State struggled to find someone that could keep tabs on the T'Wolves center.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 11 points off the bench, and none were bigger than the tree triples he had late in the 3rd quarter in early in the 4th to tie the game up at 81. Minnesota would take the lead on the next possession and hold on to it until the finish line.
Mike Conley led the T'Wolves in scoring in Minnesota's win over Cleveland earlier this weekend, and he had to produce another big game against the Warriors who led for the entire first half. He chipped in 14 and 7 assists on Sunday night, but unfortunately most of the Target Center was coming back to their seats after the halftime break to see this ankle breaker.
The Timberwolves hit just 33% of their shots in the first quarter, and turned the ball over nine times. If it wasn't for Naz Reid's huge half, they would have been in danger of getting blown out early.
The Minnesota Timberwolves every game from here until the end of the regular season is a must win if they are going to earn the one seed in the Western Conference. They welcomed a Golden State team desperate for a win as they continue to scrape the bottom of the playoff picture in the West.
Anthony Edwards would carry his team to victory at the Target Center, but they needed Naz Reid to jump start them out of the gate after a slow start from the rest of the team. He went wild from downtown and was the difference maker the T'Wolves are going to need with Karl-Anthony Towns sideline for the foreseeable future.
IT'S ALL OVER!!!
The Minnesota Timberwolves hold off the Warriors to secure another crucial win in their chase for the one seed in the West.
Thompson missed the three ball from the wing and Edwards snatches the rebound! He hits one of two FTs to bury to Warriors with 5 to go.
Edwards fouled by Wiggins and he hits both FTs with 11.2 to go.
Curry with the rebound on one end and he goes coast to cut the lead to one. Timeout T'Wolves with 14 to go in the 4th.
Curry to the line after the foul on Gobert and he hits both FTs with 36 seconds to go.
Gobert fouled by Wiggins and he hits both FTs, and the Warriors take a timeout with 1:03 to go.
McDaniels pulls up from the elbow with a hand in his face and he gets the roll off the front iron.
Curry to the line after the foul on Gobert and he hits both FTs.
Conley sinks the big triple from the wing to put the Wolves back in the lead with under 3:00 to go.
Curry missed the three ball but got his own rebound and didn't miss from DT twice.
Gobert follows up the Conley missed lay up and tips it in.
Curry found Green on the move and he lays it up and in down the lane.
Jackson-Davis steaks down the lane and Steph passed out of the double team for the slam.
Timeout Timberwolves with 4:36 to go in the 4th.
Payton hitting the boards hard and gets the tip in down low.
Morris tosses it up and Gobert goes up and chases it for the alley oop!
Thompson answers back with antoher catch and shoot three ball from the wing!
Thompson answers back with antoher catch and shoot three ball from the wing!
Edwards was wide open on the perimeter and he knocks down the three from the wing!
Thompson out of the timeout and he nails a three from the top of the key off the catch and shoot.
Timeout Wolves with 6:28 to go.
Gobert running the floor and Conley found him for the lay up down the lane!
Timeout Warriors with under 7:00 to go in the 4th.
Block by Gobert and that set Alexander-Walker on the break who found Conley for three in the corner!
Wiggins to the line after the foul on Conley and he hits one of two FTs.
Anderson follows up his own miss, gets the bucket and the foul! FT is no good after the foul on Thompson.
Kuminga stops in the lane and he fades from traffic and drops the short J.
Conley with a steal and score after picking off the pass from Paul.
Timeout Warriors with under 9:00 to go in the 4th.
Rober slams home the jam after the entry pass from Anderson.
Paul from right outside the lane and he drops the short jumper.
Anderson into the lane and puts up the runner in traffic
Podziemski drills the triple in the corner off the feed from Paul.
Back and forth from Morris and Conley and finally Morris jacked it from downtown!
Alexander-Walker ended the third quarter with a three and he starts the fourth with one!
Alexander-Walker steps back and sinks the three ball in the corner!
We are headed to the fourth quarter with the Warriors up by 3.
Paul gets to his spot and hits the pull up jumper.
Anderson to the line after the foul on Green and he drills both FTs.
Paul had Gobert on the perimeter, and he drills a three ball over the big man.
Thompson off the curl and he hits the elbow jumper.
Edwards drives down the lane and kicks it out to Alexander-Walker who drills the three in the corner.
Edwards looks across the perimeter for McLaughlin who drills the three ball.
Timeout T'Wolves with 2:55 to go in the 3rd.
Anderson follows the missed lay up from Edwards and tip slams it home!
Edwards got T'd up for the no call on his lay up. Thompson makes the techincal FT.
Green with a triple try in the corner and he sinks it after the feed from Thompson.
Jackson-Davis to the line after the foul on McDaniels and he hits both FTs.
Edwards sinks a deep three ball from the wing!
Back cut from Thompson and Payton found him from mid court for the lay up.
Lob over the top from Conley who finds Gobert for the alley oop.
Curry with another three ball and he's got 4 on the night.
Reid gets his own offensive board, kicks it out and finds McDaniels for three in the corner!
Curry comes out of the timeout and drills the three ball from the top of the key!
Conley picks off Kuminga and he takes it coast to coast for the lay up.
Timeout Warriors with 7:44 to go in the 3rd.
Green finds Curry on the back door cut and he finishes with the reverse.
Conley to the line after the foul on Kuminga and he hits one of two FTs.
Kuminga to the line after the foul on Reid and he hits one of two FTs.
Gobert goes into the body of Green and he hits the lay up off the glass.
Wiggins goes over the screen and pulls up from the wing. He's got 14.
Conley pulls up and the T'Wolves start the third on a 6-0 run.
Reid starts the half off by banging home a three ball, his 6th of the night!
WE ARE BACK IN PLAY FROM MINNESOTA FOR THE SECOND HALF OF ACTION.
Wiggins and Kuminga are two keys to this team, and they have 11 a piece. Curry leads the Warriors with 14 in the first half.
Edwards has 14 points after a slow start to the game. He and Curry started to go head to head late in the half so expect more of that in the second half.
The T'Wolves have two of the best shooting big men in the league. KAT is out but Naz Reid is more than making up for the absence. He has 17 points on 5/6 shooting from downtown.
Minnesota shot 33% and turned the ball over 9 times in the first half, which the Warriors turned into points in transition. Kuminga carried the Warriors early on and ended the half with 11.
Steph and the Warriors didn't get off to the hottest of starts but because the T'Wolves shot shot so poorly it looked like Golden State was blowing Minnesota out. Curry had just 4 points after the first quarter, but would warm up later in the half.
WE ARE HEADED TO THE HALFTIME BREAK WITH THE T'WOLVES TRAILING THE WARRIORS BY 8.
Kuminga to the line after the foul on Gobert with under 1 second on the clock and he hits one of two FTs.
Gobert sends Wiggins to the line where he makes both FTs.
Runner from Edwards down the lane after picking up the loose ball on the other end.
Wiggins going into traffic for the lay up and he gets the bucket and the foul! FT is no good.
Curry to the line and he hits both FTs after the foul on Morris.
McDaniels drills the three ball in the corner after the skip pass from Edwards.
Curry pulls up from behind the FT line and he's starting to get hot.
Edwards steps back from the top of the key and he drops the three ball out of the timeout.
Alexander-Walker with a wild drive he hangs it high off the glass.
Timeout with 3:18 to go in the half.
Curry quiets the crowd down with a floater down the lane.
Edwards with back to back buckets, this one off the step back from the elbow.
Edwards drills a three ball and is that going ot get the Wolves star scorer going before half?
Wiggins to the line and he hits both FTs after the foul on Edwards.
Edwards sends Curry to the line and Curry hits both FTs.
Edwards to the line after the foul on Wiggins and he hits both FTs.
Curry trying to get himself into this ball game. He hits the three ball from the top of the key, and the Warriors are on an 8-0 run now.
Catch and shoot for Wiggins and he drills it from the wing off the dish from Curry.
Kuminga over the top and Paul fed him for the alley oop!
Reid steps into another three ball, and he drills it! That 17 points for Naz!
Step back from the baseline from Kuminga and that ends an 8-0 run from MIN.
Jackson-Davis missed two FTs out of the timeout, and then Reid drills another three ball!! What a first half it's been for Reid who has five threes and 14 points!
Reid drills the three ball from the wing and he's got 3 triples already.
Timeout Warriors. with 9:56 to go in the half.
Reid pulls up from outside the lane and gets the short shot to go.
Kuminga with the inbound from the baseline and found Paul who returned it to Kuminga for the lay up.
We are at the end of the first quarter, and the Wolves really struggled to score the basketball in that opening 12 minutes.
Minnesota shot just 6/18 and turned it over 9 times.
The Warriors didn't shoot much better, but they lead because of the mistakes the T'Wolves made.
Thompson drops a deep two with the foot on the line.
Green goes to the iron and Paul finds him on the baseline for the lay in.
Green was left open from the perimeter and he hits the corner three ball.
Anderson to the line after the foul on Jackson-Davis and he hits both FTs.
Green cuts to the lane and Payton found him for the lay up.
Edwards gets to the iron, stops on a dime and lays it up.
Thompson on the curl and he hits the FT line jumper.
Extra pass from Payton to Jackson-Davis who slams it home from the baseline.
Kuminga gets to the FT line and sees the fader go.
Morris with the interception off the Thompson pass and he takes it coast to coast for the lay up.
Edwards dumps it down for Gobert who raises for the slam and gets fouled by Thompson. FT is good.
Morris off the bench and on the board with a corner three out of the timeout.
We are headed to our first timeout of the night with 6:30 to go.
Podziemski picked up his dribble at the FT line and had to put up an off balanced shot with the clock winding down.
Reid with the catch and shoot from the wing and he's got his second three of the night.
Kuminga pulls up off one foot and hits the fader in the lane.
Curry pulls up from the wing and he drills the three ball to open up his account.
Wiggins puts his head down and takes it strong to the rack for a lay up on the right side.
Conley kick out to Reid in the corner and he drills the ball!
Conley kick out to Reid in the corner and he drills the ball!
Podziemski gets fouled and starts the game's scoring from the FT line after the foul on Conley.
WE ARE UNDERWAY FROM MINNESOTA!!!
T'Wolves starters
Minnesota are going big to start against an undersized Golden State squad. Rudy Gobert is in the starting five for a second straight game, and he will be joined by Naz Reid down low. It's Jaden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards and Mike Conley on the perimeter and it will be up to them to slow down Steph and the Warriors.
Warriors starters
Steve Kerr is going with his usual starting five when he has everyone available. It looked like this team was going to turn things around after the All-Star Break when Kerr started using Klay Thompson off the bench but they remain in 10th place despite the surprising rise of Jonathan Kuminga, Brandon Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis.
How the West is shaping up
There are three weeks left in the NBA's regular season and the race is on from the 1 spot to the 10 spot in the Western Conference. The T'Wolves are chasing the one seed and home court in the playoffs in the West, but are currently sitting a game and a half behind the Thunder and the Nuggets. While that seems to be a three team race, the chase for an automatic playoff bid and the 6 seed is five team race, although the Warriors are five games back of the sixth placed Suns and that might be too much of a deficit to overcome.
ANT MVP
We could talk about the supporting cast of the Minnesota Timberwolves, but really it’s all about the ANT Man. Anthony Edwards has done everything and more for his team, especially in the absence of Karl-Anthony Towns whose returns date is still unknown. Edwards has been a mix of clutch and spectacular in his campaign to climb up the MVP charts. He may not win it, with Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic playing the way their playing but his 26, 5, and 5 are good enough to put him in the conversation with the league’s best players. Tonight he comes in as questionable, but if we know ANT Man's way of going about his business, then you know he's playing.
Where they at?
We all know that the key to the Warriors push up the standings and postseason run depends on Steph Curry, but he needs some help. It’s come from Jonathan Kuminga at times, it’s come from Klay Thompson other times, and even Trayce Jackson-Davis but they all need to come together and produce on a nightly basis if the Warriors are going to have any chance of avoiding the Play-In or getting through it should they finish below seventh place in the Western Conference. Curry is averaging 27 points, 4.5 rebounds and almost 5 assists.
T'Wolves last game
Minnesota bounced back from their narrow loss to the defending champion Denver Nuggets with a home win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in a game they led most of the way. Rudy Gobert returned to the line up after sitting out the loss to the Nuggets, grabbing 15 rebounds in his comeback game. Anthony Edwards had 16 and 13 rebounds but it was Mike Conley who led the way, dropping 21 points, hitting more than 50% of his shots and dishing six assists to carry the Timberwolves to a 13 point win that Minnesota cruised to comfortably with a double digit cushion for the last quarter and a half.
Warriors last game
The Warriors home woes continued to trouble them in their last game of a three game homestand. Two of the top point guards in the league met for a showdown in the Bay as Steph Curry and the Warriors hosted Tyrese Haliburtion and the Pacers. After an even first 30 minutes the Pacers took the lead and didn’t give it back right around the midway point in the third quarter. Golden State shot just 40% from the field and less than 30% from three while Tyrese Haliburton and Paskal Siakam led Indiana to an important win in their Eastern Conference playoff seeding race. Haliburton had 26 and 11 assists while Siakam had 25 and 16. Steph Curry was the only one who scored more than 20 for the Warriors who dropped to 18/19 at home.
We are live from the Target Center
Hello everyone and welcome to Minnesota where the Timberwolves are looking to keep track with the rest of the West after dropping a crucial game against the Denver Nuggets earlier this week. ANT Man and company got back in the win column after that loss in their last game against the Cavaliers over the weekend, and now they are back home ready to take on a Golden State team that finds itself back in the 10th spot in the conference, and running out of time to avoid the Play-In Tournament. Two teams with very different ambitions over the next couple weeks face off in a must win game for each side.
Warriors vs. Timberwolves
We end the week with a massive matchup with heavy playoff implications between two teams in very different situations, but both teams needing a win wit the same sort of urgency. Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors are set to take on the Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves in a Western Conference showdown from the Target Center. AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis of tonight’s game for Minneapolis.