It was supposed to be just another game on the docket for the Golden State Warriors, coming just a few days after their loss to the Boston Celtics, their first loss at home this season ending the longest home win streak in NBA history. It was supposed to be just another game on their path towards the illustrious 73 season wins mark that would cement them as one of the greatest teams in NBA history. That’s what their Tuesday night primetime TNT game against the Minnesota Timberwolves was supposed to be. It was the defending champion Golden State Warriors up against the upstart and feisty young Minnesota Timberwolves. I don’t think anyone told the Wolves that they were supposed to just lay down a lose because after taking it on the chin in the first half, the Wolves came back and fought.
Stephen Curry was scoreless in the first half and that could’ve been as much of a sign as anything that these Timberwolves weren’t going to give up very easily. Coming into their game with the T-Wolves, the Dubs had won 101 straight games when leading by 15 at any point in their contests and the Timberwolves snapped that streak on Tuesday night.
Curry somewhat recovered and finished with 21 points on the night on 7-25 shooting but he did hand out 15 assists and grabbed six rebounds in 43 minutes of action. Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 28 points on 12-22 shooting and Harrison Barnes also chipped in 20 points. The downfall of Golden State might have made an old saying coming true. You live by the 3 and die by the 3 and the Warriors were deceased by the end of the night. They shot 12-35 from three as a team but their star backcourt of Curry and Thompson combined to shoot 8-25 from three on the night (32%) which is a far cry from their combined average of 44% from three.
Timberwolves leaned on their four young stars in the making, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad to carry them to victory. The star of the night was Muhammad who scored a career-high 35 points coming off the bench for Minnesota. Andrew Wiggins would follow Shabazz into the 30-point club by posting 32 points of his own, making them the first duo to score 30+ on the Warriors this season. KAT added 20 points with 12 rebounds and LaVine scored 16 knocking down four out of seven three’s in the process. This could be one of those moments that this group of young Wolves remembers going into next season.
