The Timberwolves put a significant dent in that pursuit Tuesday night, with a 124-117 overtime win against the defending National Basketball Association champions. Golden State will need to “win out” in order to reach 73. The Spurs are only 3 1/2 games behind Golden State in the standings and still have a shot at 70 victories if they win out. The same thing happened 20 years ago (with Chicago).
Advertisement
“If we played Utah, I don’t see any reason now we’re not going to play Golden State”. This doesn’t surprise me.
The path to 73 got a bit harder after the Warriors lost in overtime to the Timberwolves. “We haven’t been very dialed in of late”.
The Warriors, meanwhile, committed 24 turnovers and fumbled away a 17-point third-quarter lead.
The Warriors have now lost two of their last three games at home, after compiling at 54-game winning streak that spanned two seasons. It is their second home loss this season after falling to the Boston Celtics the other night. Gotta embrace the challenge. Obviously it’s not easy to get it done. “We’re proving that right now”, said Curry, who reckons his team can achieve the improbable feat.
It took great shooting nights from Wiggins (11-for-19) and Shabazz Muhammad (9-for-12!), and a couple don’t-worry-I-got-this drives from rookie Karl-Anthony Towns, but Minnesota pulled it out, producing one of the most unexpected scorelines of the year. Instead of being concerned by his bad game day, he just clicked into passing mode, recording a double-digit assists by the halftime of the matchup.
Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 28 points and Andrew Bogut clocked in his fifth double-double of the season, with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Golden State also fell in Milwaukee in December and at the Los Angeles Lakers last month, but this one came at home.
Andrew Wiggins took over for the Timberwolves during a crucial stretch of the fourth quarter.
His work pushed the Wolves toward a 114-109 lead midway through overtime and Towns kept them there with two crucial driving layups in which the 7-footer made like a guard and scored at the rim.
The Spurs are now back just three games in the loss column, and they still play the Warriors twice. For him, the interest in getting it is quite different when someone says they’re pushing to get it. Makes sense, right? “Still, we don’t want to lose our focus, and that’s to win a championship”.
Quote: “We can’t even suit up all the guys who’ve been helping us win games night after night, and that’s frustrating”, – Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game.
The Warriors botched their final possession with a chance to win, when Andre Iguodala misfired badly on a three-pointer from the corner.
Jeff Teague scored 20 points, Kent Bazemore added 17 and Atlanta rallied from 13 down in the third quarter to beat Phoenix.
Advertisement
James had a relatively quiet night, with his points haul matched by Kevin Love and surpassed by J.R. Smith, who finished with 21.
