Timberwolves at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors went from the hottest team in the NBA to a club searching for answers after four losses in six games. The Warriors will attempt to find some of those answers on both ends of the floor when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday. The Timberwolves pulled out of their own funk with a pair of dominating performances against the Utah Jazz and have an opportunity to move back to .500 with a third straight triumph.
Golden State dropped the opener of a five-game homestand 102-94 to the Indiana Pacers on Monday and still has visits from Western Conference contenders Portland and the Los Angeles Clippers to look forward to over the next week. The Warriors fell behind early against the Pacers and are developing a trend of weak starts. “(The Pacers) made an effort to assert themselves early and I don’t know if we didn’t show up, we just didn’t have any kind of punch early in the game,” Stephen Curry told reporters. Hot starts were a key to Minnesota’s last two victories.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN North (Minnesota), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (20-21): Minnesota held the Jazz 23 first-half points at home on Saturday and limited them to 39 before the break at Utah on Tuesday before coasting through the second half on both occasions. The Timberwolves have been searching for consistency on the defensive end and dominated that area against the Jazz, though Golden State’s plethora of weapons provides a different challenge. The Warriors shot 50 percent from the field in a 106-93 victory at Minnesota on Nov. 6 and Kevin Love’s 25 points and 16 rebounds could not make up the gap. Love has not reached 20 points in any of his last three games but is averaging 5.3 assists in that span.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (26-17): Klay Thompson did most of the damage with 30 points in the Nov. 6 meeting and hit five 3-pointers in the loss to the Pacers on Monday. Thompson and Curry are two of the most prolific 3-point shooters in the league but Curry’s once gaudy percentage from beyond the arc has taken a hit recently, and he is connecting on just 32.3 percent of his attempts this month. Those two will be counted on even more if the depleted front line can’t play to its usual standards. David Lee (shoulder) and Andrew Bogut (knee) were both limited in practice on Thursday while Jermaine O’Neal (wrist), who has been out since Dec. 9, returned to practice this week.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Love (35) and Lee (23) each rank in the top 10 in the NBA in double-doubles, and Love has posted four straight.
2. Love, Curry, Thompson, Lee and Warriors F Andre Iguodala were all announced as members of the pool of 28 players for Team USA.
3. Golden State has taken seven straight in the series and won the last two by an average of 14.5 points.