The Western Conference continues to be an unpredictable mess over the final few weeks of the season.
On Sunday, the Golden State Warriors — one of five 30-win teams in the NBA — did nothing to disprove that in a befuddling home loss.
Despite reclaiming a lead in the fourth quarter, they stumbled late with some bad turnovers against impressive defense, losing 99-96 to the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s a loss that has substantial playoff implications.
The (slightly more worrisome) playoff picture
Had the Warriors won, they would have jumped the los Angeles Clippers by a half game for sole possession of the 5th seed.
Instead, at 39-37, they sit in the 6th seed, a half game behind the Clippers.
It also gives the edge, at least for the moment, to the Timberwolves in terms of tiebreakers. Because the two teams split their four games this season, the tiebreaker goes to conference record.
Minnesota, now 38-37, has a 26-20 record in the conference. Golden State is 25-21 and has just a half game on the Timberwolves instead of — with a win — 2.5 games. It leaves them perilously close to the play-in games.
There are still too many scenarios to keep track of with six games left, but this was a major blow for Golden State. It’s just their eighth loss of the season at home.
Their remaining stretch features three home games (Pelicans, Spurs, Thunder) and three road games (Nuggets, Kings, Blazers). Those last two games are in Sacramento and Portland, which, with Portland falling fast out of the playoff picture, could be a Damian Lillard-less contest.
If the Warriors win all their home games and lose all their road games, they’d finish at 42-40. If they sweep the remaining at home and win against Portland, it would be 43-39.
Sufficed to say, a lot can change, and unceremoniously, over the next couple weeks.
Gary Payton II makes his return
It took 278 days, a free agency departure, a core muscle surgery, a trade that was, then almost wasn’t, and more than six weeks of rehab; but after all that, Gary Payton II is back in a Warriors uniform.
Limited minutes aside — he played 16 on Sunday, but closed in the fourth — it was like he never left (and he never should have).
The 6’2″ guard/center was Golden State’s spark plug last season. He took on every defensive matchup irrespective of size of height, and usually with a high level of success.
When he needed to slash, he’d slash, usually for a dunk that sent Chase Center into an uproar. There were steals turned fastbreak points and the always-tangible sense of a sneaky block. He always seemed to sink a corner 3 just when the Warriors needed him to.
He offered all of that again on Sunday.
As Golden State struggled in the fourth quarter, he jolted them to life. After a ridiculous block on Karl-Anthony Towns at the start of the quarter, the Warriors turned the ball over on three-straight possessions and fell behind by nine.
Payton II snapped them from their rut of one score in three minutes, hitting a corner 3 to cut the deficit to six points.
A Jordan Poole jumper followed, then a Payton II cutting layup to cut it to four. After a boneheaded technical foul on Jaden McDaniels, Poole sank three free throws to make it one.
When Poole and Anthony Lamb departed the game for Steph Curry and Draymond Green, it all clicked. Payton II was constantly available and bothering the Timberwolves.
With Curry hounded, he made himself an option in the corner, then promptly swung the ball to Kevon Looney inside for an easy couple.
He showed up on just about every defensive possession with intelligence, aggression and incision.
His energy is impossible to miss. Donte DiVincenzo has provided a similar spark this season — and Payton II cut into his and Jonathan Kuminga’s minutes — but Payton II’s fluidity within the Warriors’ scheme on either end is a hand-in-glove(II) fit. His presence has been missed and will surely help on the road.
Tough defense secure win for Timberwolves
Minnesota played some damn impressive defense on the Warriors on Sunday.
Their length provided Golden State, especially Curry, with problems. He never seemed to get into a groove offensively, and there were too many possessions when the shot clock neared expiration and a contested 3-pointer had to be launched.
Curry didn’t look like he had the same sort of juice he normally does, and was fighting through constant pressure. The length of Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Towns and others made him battle for every bit of space.
Rudy Gobert’s ability to shift into the paint and cut off inside shot attempts was evident. Golden State looked much more uncertain of themselves than they usually do, especially at home.
They were inefficient from just about everywhere on the floor, shooting 41.5 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from 3.
Minnesota was also a mess offensively, except for Naz Reid, who, for the second time in as many games against Golden State, was red hot. He had 23 points (10-of-17, 3-of-5 from 3-pt) and 6 rebounds on Sunday. Three of his six highest-scoring games this season (a season-high 30 on Feb. 26, 24 on Feb. 1 and now 23) have come against the Warriors.
Their struggles were in large part due to relentless defensive effort from Golden State. They encouraged outside shots and limited the Timberwolves starters to a combined 50 points.
Towns, averaging 20.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists had just 14 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists on Sunday while being heavily guarded by Draymond Green. The issue is, he came through late with a couple of huge shots, including the game winner after a brutal turnover from Green.
None of their starters had more than his 14 points.
And while both Curry (20 points, 8-of-22, 4-of-12 from 3-pt) and Klay Thompson (15 points, 5-of-17, 5-of-11 from 3-pt) were off, Jordan Poole had 27 off the bench.
In the closing moments, though, the Warriors fell into their worst tendencies, which Poole tends to highlight.
With Golden State up by two and 38.1 seconds remaining, Poole chucked a 3-pointer that missed with 8 seconds left on the shot clock. Minnesota got a free throw from Rudy Gobert on the other en.
Then, disaster followed. Green, on a possession the Warriors could have nearly ended the game with a clock-expiring attempt, threw away a terrible pass, with Kyle Anderson snatching it in the passing lane.
Anderson had himself a hell of a night off the Minnesota bench with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals, a block and 2 turnover and drove down court to set up a trailing Towns for a lead-taking 3.
That wasn’t a death knell, but Poole just about provided one on the following possession. He got the ball, struggled against tight defensive pressure, then threw the ball out of bounds to a theoretical target of Curry. Poole had 3 turnovers, the same as Curry and Thompson. Green had a game-high 5, and wasn’t his same self after a couple of late Gobert elbows.
Golden State managed to foul Jaden McDaniels with a couple seconds remaining, and were gifted a missed free throw, but the Minnesota defense came through.
Klay Thompson got an inbounds pass for a potential game-tying 3, but was fouled smartly by Mike Conley before the shot. The next attempt saw Curry dribble, slip, and launch up a prayer of a corner 3 to tie it. It missed, and the Warriors went down in head-scratching fashion.