Should Warriors be satisfied with narrow 116-115 win over Timberwolves?

NBA: Golden State Warriors at Minnesota Timberwolves
Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

The Golden State Warriors escaped with a narrow 116-115 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. However, given the way in which they’ve immensely struggled for nearly two months, was the victory a cause for celebration?

A win is a win. Having said that, Golden State improved to 20-20 and came within one game of the 21-19 Minnesota Timberwolves with the triumph, but there were downsides to their overall play that serve as causes for concern for the reeling franchise. While Andrew Wiggins and Stephen Curry were the heroes for the Warriors on the affair, combining for 55 points, between the lines, head coach Steve Kerr may have much to examine before their next game.

Warriors nearly crumbled in the clutch

NBA: Golden State Warriors at Minnesota Timberwolves
Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

The Warriors jumped out to an early 24-point lead with 25.1 seconds to go in the first quarter and limited the Wolves to only 12 points in that 12-minute span. Golden State was able to hang on to their lead throughout and entered the fourth quarter with an 87-78 advantage over Minnesota.

Then, T-Wolves head coach Chris Finch savily employed a quasi-box-and-one defense on Curry. He had Nickeil Alexander-Walker face guard the two-time NBA MVP 94 feet off the inbounds. This disrupted the Warriors’ offensive flow in the half-court. Curry showed frustration with his teammates at times for not being in the best position to receive his passes when he got trapped.

Warriors missed Draymond Green & need frontcourt help

On the other end, Draymond Green’s absence was felt, as Minnesota sparked a massive second-half surge and fourth-quarter run thanks in part to big men Naz Reid and Julius Randle. Reid found his rhythm from outside and scored seven of his 15 points in the fourth while Randle added seven points of his own.

NBA: Golden State Warriors at Minnesota Timberwolves
Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Encouragingly, the Warriors’ ancillary stars met Wiggins and Curry where they were at in their respective roles. Buddy Hield, who has seen his productivity plummet of late, returned to form with 18 points on 6-11 shooting from the floor and 3-6 shooting from three-point range. Moses Moody gave the Warriors a quality 25 minutes off the bench with 11 points on 4-6 shooting from the floor, while Dennis Schroder turned in an efficient 12 points on 5-11 connection from the field.

Those three are Golden State’s next men up outside of Curry, Wiggins, and Jonathan Kuminga when healthy. They’ll need more of the same from them if they want to rise in the Western Conference standings again.

All in all, the Warriors did enough to earn a win and salvaged a major lead that almost went sour. Albeit, they need size and better execution in crunch time. Nevertheless, they’ll look to build momentum as they await Green’s return and ride that into the All-Star break coming up next month. The Dubs will get a chance to make it two wins in a row when they take on the 6-32 Washington Wizards on Saturday.

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