Stephen Curry had an uncharacteristic off-shooting night, Golden State committed 24 turnovers to squander an early 17-point lead and the Warriors hit an unexpected obstacle on their quest for 73 wins by losing 124-117 in overtime to the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday night.
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The Warriors (69-9) now need to win their last four games to eclipse the 72-10 record set by the 1995/96 Chicago Bulls team featuring Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Andrew Wiggins accounted for 38.5 percent of the points in that affair, and rookie Karl-Anthony Towns logged a double-double. Andrew Wiggins scored 30 points to lead Minnesota.
Minnesota owned the overtime period from start to finish, scoring an array of points, while forcing Steph Curry and Klay Thompson into tough shots.
When quizzed over Pop’s reaction about the home record wins, Tony Parker simply dismissed the obsession over record-setting.
Actually, that is exactly why they do not lose more often. Golden State needs to win four of its final five games to break the record of 72 victories set by Chicago in 1995-96.
“We can’t even suit up all the guys who’ve been helping us win games night after night, and that’s frustrating”, he said.
The Warriors will be playing for the second straight night after a game in Memphis, and Kerr said he may give reserve guard Shaun Livingston one of those games off.
Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson told ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” in February that Curry’s success is largely due to today’s style of play. After all, here’s a team that’s won 74 of its past 76 regular season home games. Golden State became the first National Basketball Association team to go over 1,000 in a single season.
Also on Sunday, the Houston Rockets boosted their post-season hopes with a 118-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder and Blake Griffin returned from his three-month absence to help the Los Angeles Clippers past the Washington Wizards 114-109.
“It doesn’t matter, to me, how he plays it”, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Popovich, one of his former coaches.
“Now, saying that, we got to be a better enough ballclub to continue to try to get better with these games and try and go into the playoffs the right way and not stumble in the playoffs, so, think that’s something we have to focus on”.
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However the Bulls defence, which topped the league in 1995-96 would be a step above the Warriors current fifth-ranked defensive structure. The Warriors took a 106-103 lead into the final minute of regulation but couldn’t put it away.
