D’Angelo Russell was only a Warrior for half a season, but he shot like his 33-game tenure left a sour taste in his mouth on Wednesday.
Four consecutive 3-pointers ignited a blistering fourth quarter for Russell, which ignited a 21-9 run to start the final frame.
The Warriors entered the fourth quarter with an 11-point lead, but foul trouble to Stephen Curry and Rusell’s eruption forced overtime. Minnesota, a team built around a budding star guard in Anthony Edwards plus frontcourt standouts Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, were without their two All-Star bigs. They had no business taking the defending champions into overtime.
And yet, even after Russell fouled out in the opening moments of overtime, unforced turnovers and empty trips from Golden State gave the Timberwolves free possessions.
GSW scored just 17 points in the fourth quarter to blow their lead. They followed that up with four points in the five-minute OT to lose it, 119-114.
In the overtime period, the Warriors (26-25) racked up more turnovers than made field goals. The offense grew stagnant and the defense was as lackluster as it was all night. Against a shorthanded Timberwolves team, they choked when they should have had no issues.
Curry and Russell each dropped 29 points, but Curry went 8-for-21 and his opponent canned seven 3-pointers. GSW committed 17 turnovers, including four from Curry, compared to 11 by Minnesota.
Here are three takeaways from Golden State’s loss.
Curry dealing with foul trouble
The Warriors have played with individual players’ rotations, including Steph Curry’s, but he is back to his normal schedule of playing the entire first and third quarters, then returning for the final stretches of the second and fourth periods.
It’s what Curry has always been most comfortable with, and he maximized those minutes on Wednesday. To end the first quarter, when he was playing with four reserves, he rescued a botched fast break with a 3-pointer in the corner. Then he jacked another in a stare-down.
Curry got to the line for four first-quarter foul shots, taking advantage of overzealous Minnesota defenders with back cuts and pump fakes.
When he returned after his break, Curry maintained his aggression. He sank an absurd 3-pointer over tight defense from Jaden McDaniels and entered halftime with 21 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field plus six foul shots.
The Warriors led by nine and had outscored the Wolves by 13 when Curry was on the court, meaning they treaded water while he sat.
Foul trouble prevented him from playing the entire third quarter, and even as the Warriors built a double-digit lead, Curry had lost his rhythm. He went 0-for-2 from the field in the third and couldn’t deliver much impact after he picked up his fifth foul.
In fact, he airballed a catch-and-shoot 3 in the closing minutes. He also committed two head-scratching turnovers on errant passes in the Warriors’ backcourt.
Then with five seconds left in a tie game, he missed a wide-open jumper, a practice-level attempt he’s made hundreds of thousands of times in his life with ease. Then he went scoreless in the OT period.
Missing Gobert…at least on one end
The game should have ended 30 minutes before tipoff, when it was announced that Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert would be inactive.
Gobert has been a massive disappointment in the context of Minnesota’s blockbuster trade that brought him over for Walker Kessler, Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, four future first round picks and a swap. Still, he’s one of the game’s stoutest defenders in the paint.
Playing without him and Karl-Anthony Towns (calf strain) leaves the Timberwolves with no chance. How is Minnesota supposed to get stops with an undersized center — Naz Reid — a designated-hitter point guard, and a shooting guard not yet known for his defensive intensity?
They couldn’t. As long as Golden State took care of the ball, they scored at a terrific clip.
GSW reached 75 points two minutes into the second quarter. Without a captain of their defense, the Timberwolves struggled to navigate Golden State’s split action. And off it, the Warriors took advantage of mismatches. The club’s second-half woes felt more self-inflicted than due to anything Minnesota changed defensively.
But Minnesota matched the Warriors’ offensive attack. The floor was more spaced without Gobert clogging the paint. Reid went for 24 and 13, including a clutch 3-pointer; Gobert doesn’t shoot 3s at all.
And in overtime, Reid followed up his own miss for a dunk that proved to be the game-winner. He was the difference-maker.
Another Kuminga spark
In recent weeks, second-year forward Jonathan Kuminga has emerged as a viable option off the bench — a fact that might not seem grand on the surface but means everything to the Warriors.
He’s provided value by making quicker decisions, using his athleticism on both ends, providing point-of-attack resistance and hitting open shots. He did all three against Minnesota.
When the Warriors desperately needed some juice in the third quarter as Curry headed to the bench with four fouls, Kuminga leaked out for an easy dunk and then sank a corner 3.
On the defensive end, Kuminga came out of nowhere to swat an Anthony Edwards layup, too — a flash of athleticism rarely seen even at the pinnacle of the sport.
To start the fourth quarter, the forward nearly hit his head on the rim as he skied for a putback attempt.
Kuminga finished with 10 points, three rebounds, a block and a steal in 15 minutes. Perhaps he should’ve been called upon to try to slow down Russell when he got into the zone.