David Berding-USA TODAY Sports
There is no Stephen Curry sinking a deep 3 to mask an energy deficit. There is no Klay Thompson to will his way to points that others struggle to find. Hell, there is no Kevon Looney to bash his way underneath and discover rebounds that otherwise would be points for the opponent.
If the shots aren’t falling, the Warriors will, regardless of the opponent, lose. Without stars, much hustle and range, no team has a chance — even against a similarly star-less outfit.
The Warriors’ 99-84 loss in Minnesota on Thursday was a step back in a season that has involved so many baby steps forward. They were outhustled and outshot more than they were outplayed, and a team that had run off four straight wins has responded with three straight losses.
The Warriors (9-27), facing a Timberwolves (13-21) squad on the back end of a back-to-back, yielded 17 offensive rebounds, while grabbing just seven of their own.
The Warriors were buried early, outscored 34-19 in the first, and never quite recovered. Eric Paschall, finally heard from again (13 points), made it a 10-point game early in the fourth, but he and the Warriors couldn’t break through. Four times they tried to cut it to single digits early in the period and four times they were denied. They would finally narrow the lead to eight with five minutes left, but unheralded Wolves like Robert Covington (20 points), Shabazz Napier (20) and Naz Reid (13) closed the door.
Re-bound to fail
The biggest issue came under and around the hoop, where the shorthanded Warriors looked physically depleted. The Wolves outrebounded the Warriors 52-43, but the biggest difference was the second-chance points.
It was less that each 50-50 ball went Minnesota’s way as much as it was that Minnesota took every 50-50 ball. Gorgui Dieng (five rebounds) dashed, leapt and saved the ball for an offensive rebound early in the third, then got position on Marquese Chriss to give the Timberwolves a third try on the possession — which he converted with a layup to put the Warriors in a 21-point hole they would not climb out from.
Foul play
When the shots aren’t falling and the talent is watered-down, the Warriors cannot sit back on experience and smarts. Three times — yes, three times — Golden State fouled a Timberwolves player shooting a 3. Omari Spellman jumped into Naz Reid in the third, Alec Burks ticked Kelan Martin in the second and Chriss jumped into Keita Bates-Diop to close the first quarter.
The Warriors were not beaten at the line — they finished 15-of-21, while the Timberwolves went 10-for-17 — but they gave up too many potential points and revealed a too-small IQ. They’re young; that will improve.
Starry blight
For once, the Warriors were not the sole owners of the injury-excuse card. But even without its version of a Big Three, Minnesota thoroughly dominated the deciding first half, which finished 58-41.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Jeff Teague were replaced by Kelan Martin, Napier and Reid. The unlikely trio, who average about 21 points per game, combined for 42 first-half points on 11-of-18 shooting.
They were the leaders, and the Timberwolves separated themselves from 3, where they shot 7-of-18 (41 percent). The first-half Warriors, meanwhile, drained 2-of-12.
Absent Curry, Thompson, D’Angelo Russell, Looney and Willie Cauley-Stein, the Warriors asked a lot of Glenn Robinson III (seven first-half point), Alec Burks (seven) and Paschall (seven). No one stepped up, though, and the team shot 40 percent from the field for the half.