The Wolves continued their strong play at the start of the fourth quarter, getting within 102-97 on a three-point play by Gorgui Deng – Minnesota did most of its damage with Curry on the bench. Going blow-for-blow with the defending champions in a high-intensity atmosphere, Minnesota trailed 116-108 with four minutes to go.
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At 10-0, the Warriors are on their best starting record to a season in their franchise history. “It doesn’t mean anything obviously”. And the day where the Timberwolves become a real rival for Golden State may be closer than we think.
Pick your superlative. What Curry is doing to start this season is really something.
All in all the Wolves played a fairly good game; the Warriors are just a far better team than Minnesota, and that’s okay. “He’s always in attack mode”.
The Warriors led 40-27 after one quarter as Curry put up 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-5 from downtown. He shot 15-for-25 on the night, including 8-for-13 from 3-point range.
Stephen Curry dribbled across midcourt in the third quarter and went into a trademark crouch as he started to break down Andre Miller.
Cody Zeller’s lay-up with 0.6 seconds left lifted the Charlotte Hornets to a 95-93 win over the NY Knicks, while Nick Vucevic’s shot on the buzzer gave the Orlando Magic a 101-99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, who were without Kobe Bryant for a second straight game. He had 12 points and lifted the Warriors to a 22-10 lead before Minnesota called timeout less than halfway through the quarter. It was a 12-point game at halftime. But the first splash was special.
While Curry deserves his praise for his ability to step up yet again after reaching another level previous year, the roster as a whole have put to bed any suggestions or criticism that they might lack the motivation to go again. It’s not necessarily that LaVine is a bad on-ball defender, but apparently has not figured out how to get through screens. Because Curry is now playing off the ball, where he’s most unsafe. But Minnesota proved to be an exception.
“The season’s too long to be talking about 72 wins”, Walton said. Curry likely burns Minnesota no matter what they do, but maybe they prevent him from a gaudy 46-point performance. Shaun Livingston hit a turnaround jumper from the left baseline. Draymond Green added a 3-pointer. Barnes finished with 14 points.
Wiggins led seven Wolves in double-figures with 19 points. Rookie Karl-Anthony Towns had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Golden State was 15-16.
The Warriors are undefeated at 9-0, and winning by an average of 18 points. They were 18-of-38 from beyond the arc.
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Expecting the Timberwolves to pull out a victory against the Warriors would have been asking for a lot. After leading the Warriors in rebounding last season, Green leads them in assists through the first 10 games this season.
