Golden State Warriors come from behind to defeat Minnesota Timberwolves 93-88: NBA Recap
The Golden State Warriors secured a come-from-behind 93-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves here at the Target Center. The Wolves were playing without their star forward Kevin Love, who has been shut down for the remainder of the season.
The Warriors were led by guard Charles Jenkins, who scored 24 points and dished 9 assists in the win. Nikola Pekovic led the Wolves with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Minnesota are now 1-9 in their last 10 games, having fallen off completely after being in playoff contention at one point in the season. The Warriors had lost 8 in a row coming into this game.
Minnesota started the game well, scoring 32 points in the 1st quarter and holding the Warriors to only 17, taking a 15 point lead at the end of the period. The Warriors were only 7 of 25 from the field in the 1st period. They did pick up the pace in the 2nd quarter with some better shooting and defense, but the Wolves lead from the 1st period was enough to give them a comfortable 55-39 advantage going into the 2nd half.
Things took a reverse swing in the 2nd half with the Warriors going on the offense and the Wolves struggling from the floor. Golden State scored 30 points in the third period, and went on a 10-0 run to trail by just 63-68 with 2:16 left in the 3rd period. The Wolves advantage was cut to 75-69 as they headed into the final period, being outscored 30-20 by the Warriors in the 3rd quarter.
Warriors increased the pressure in the fourth and a turnaround jumper by Brandon Rush tied the game at 81 with a little over 8 minutes left in the game. A three point shot by Rush later in the period gave the Warriors a 90-88 lead with 1:09 remaining.
J.J Barea then made a costly error by turning the ball over a bad pass and Dominic McGuire scored a dunk and was fouled in the process to score a three point play and put the Warriors up 93-88. The game ended with the same score as the Warriors held the Wolves to only 13 points in the final quarter, having scored 75 in the first three.
The Warriors shot 56.8% from the field in the second half. The Wolves, on the other hand, were 10 of 40 from the floor in the same duration.
"It was lack of discipline as a team. We talked about it. The team thinks that because you get a lead you think that area will go fine. You have to keep working on it. We didn't do it. And it's hard to turn it back on” said the Wolves coach Rick Adelman.
Klay Thompson had 17 points for Golden State while Rush added 19 points and 9 rebounds coming off the bench. McGuire had 7 rebounds and 12 points for the night, including the game winning play. The Wolves scoring was led by Pekovic with 19 points and was assisted by Martell Webster with 18 and J.J Barea with 14 points and 12 assists. Anthony Randolph had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
Overall, Golden State shot much better from the field, going 44.6% compared with 36.6% for the Wolves. Minnesota was also only 7 of 26 from the field, but went a perfect 21 of 21 from the foul line. Both teams are out of playoff contention and are playing for an improved record to end the season and momentum to build upon come next season.
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