David Lee guides Golden State Warriors to a 97-94 win over Minnesota Timberwolves – NBA Recap
David Lee scored 31 points and grabbed 8 rebounds to marshal the Golden State Warriors to a 97-94 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Minnesota led by as many as 20 points late in the 1st half, but were outscored 38-20 in the third by the Warriors, who closed in and eventually took the match. Minnesota star player Kevin Love had a big night again,
scoring 29 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, but was 0-7 from beyond the arc for the night.
Minnesota led 26-21 going into the 2nd quarter, and scored the first 9 points of the quarter to take a 35-21 lead. It took the Warriors over 5 minutes in the 2nd to get their first points on the board.
The Wolves had a 10-2 run to start the quarter and led by 20 points with 1:53 left. T’Wolves got some momentum going offensively late in the quarter when they went on a 10-0 run to cut the Wolves lead to 10. The 1st
half ended with the Wolves leading by 51-39.
The 3rd quarter, however, belonged to the Warriors who outscored the Wolves 38-20. David Lee had 11 points in the 3rd quarter alone to lead the Warriors charge. Klay Thompson scored a 3-pointer to bring his
team to within 5 of the Wolves but Minnesota’s Jose Juan Barea responded with a 3 of his own to bring the lead back to 8.
However, a layup by Lee finally gave the Warriors the lead with the score at 69-68 and 3:36 remaining in the quarter. From there on, the Warriors went on an 8-3 run to finish the quarter at 77-71.
The Warriors kept the Wolves at bay till 6 minutes were left in the game when Wayne Ellington sunk a 3 pointer and followed it with a tip shot off a missed layup by Wesley Johnson to reduce the Warriors lead to 88-84, 5:35 left
in the game.
Less than two minutes later, with the Warriors lead back at 92-86, Ellington drilled another 3 pointer to bring the Wolves within 3 and then grabbed an offensive rebound, which Barea converted into a deuce and the Wolves trailed
by only 1, 91-92.
Thompson put in a jump shot to bring the Warriors lead back to 3, but Barea was unstoppable, scoring a crunch time 3 pointer to tie the game at 94 with only 1:24 left in play.
Charles Jenkins of the Wolves responded to the challenge with a 3 point play, after he got fouled while driving into the paint. With seconds to go in the game, the ball was inbounded to Kevin Love who attempted a 3 to tie the game
but missed and the Warriors went on to win 97-94. Love shot a dismal 0-for-7 from the 3-point line for the night.
Charles Jenkins scored 19 points and dished 7 assists for the Warriors while Jose Barea had 15 and 8 assists for the Wolves. Wayne Ellington had an amazing night for Minnesota as he came off the bench to score 17 crucial points
and went 7 of 11 from the field and 3 of 5 from beyond the arc.
Overall, both teams shot poorly from 3-point range. Minnesota had 49 rebounds to 37 by the Warriors but had 19 turnovers for the game and got the ball stolen from them on 12 occasions. Minnesota is now 4 wins behind 8th
ranked Denver Nuggets and their hopes of reaching the playoffs are dwindling fast.
Tags: