What we learned as Warriors out-shot from deep in loss to Wolves originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors had hoped getting away from Chase Center might help them shake things up, especially since they had been playing so well on the road over the last month.
Instead, Sunday’s trip to Minnesota proved to be just another exasperating chapter in a completely frustrating season for the four-time NBA champions.
Stephen Curry scored 31 points and made five 3-pointers, but the Warriors couldn’t contain the Timberwolves’ perimeter shooting and lost 114-110 at Target Center.
The loss drops the Warriors (36-34) two games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 9 spot in the Western Conference. The idle Houston Rockets, who are 11th in the West, sit just one game behind Golden State.
Klay Thompson scored 16 points in the first stop on the Warriors’ five-game road trip.
Before Sunday’s loss, Golden State had won 10 of its previous 12 games away from home.
Andrew Wiggins had 15 points, while Draymond Green put up 12 points and eight rebounds. Jonathan Kuminga scored 14.
Curry sank two free throws late in the fourth quarter then, following a Minnesota miss, raced back down the court and scored on a running layup to pull the Dubs within 111-110 with 14.9 seconds remaining.
After Anthony Edwards made a pair of free throws for the Timberwolves, Thompson missed a potential tying 3-point shot that bounced off the rim.
It’s the first time Minnesota has swept the season series between the two teams since the 1997-98 NBA season. The Warriors haven’t won in Minnesota since 2022.
Here are the takeaways from Sunday’s loss:
No answer for Naz
While Golden State’s defense appeared better overall, the Warriors had absolutely no idea how to contain Minnesota center Naz Reid.
The Timberwolves big man, who has been dealing with a head injury, always is a problem in the paint, but he repeatedly broke the Warriors with his 3-point shooting. Reid was 5 of 6 beyond the arc in the first half and finished 6 of 8 from distance.
Anthony Edwards also had a good game for Minnesota, but Reid’s consistent shooting kept the Warriors from building a bigger advantage when they had a chance.
That came back to haunt Golden State in the end.
Too many open threes
It wasn’t just Reid torching the Warriors behind the arc.
Five Minnesota players made multiple 3-pointers, many of them coming uncontested. The Warriors often were late closing out, leaving the Timberwolves wide open.
Minnesota already was one of the NBA’s better 3-point shooting teams, and they relied on it even more with Rudy Gobert limited. The Timberwolves shot 21 of 40 (52.5 percent) from distance, the most they’ve made in a game this season since canning 21 against the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 8.
The Warriors, who have allowed 14 or more threes by opponents in their last four games, shot a respectable 14 of 36 on their own deep attempts, but not enough to match the Timberwolves’ production.
JK sets tone early
Coming off one of his worst games of the season when he wasn’t much of a factor at all in Friday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers, Kuminga did a complete 180 early against the Timberwolves. He came out taking good shots and playing very scrappy, diving to the floor for loose balls and blocking shots while establishing his presence early.
At times Kuminga got a little reckless on his drives, but the overall product was significantly better than it was against Indiana.
The rest of the Warriors seemed to feed off their young forward, as the entire team played with a lot more focused pace, energy and activity in the first half than they had at any time against the Pacers.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t sustain all that effort and energy, eventually wilting under the Timberwolves’ constant pressure.
