The comeback for the Minnesota Timberwolves was spirited. They threw everything they had at the Golden State Warriors in the last three quarters to climb out of another deep, dark hole to give themselves a chance to win.
Ultimately, all of that energy and effort was merely fool’s gold, lipstick on the swine that was their first quarter performance. It was flat. It was lifeless. It was inexcusable, especially at home, especially on national television, but especially against a mediocre team that was gutted by injuries and illness on Wednesday night.
And yet these woebegone Warriors jumped all over the Timberwolves at the start of the game, leading 13-0 before the Target Center fans could take their seat after the home team’s first basket. The Warriors were up 34-10 late in the quarter, a mind-boggling combination of Minnesota ineptitude and Golden State desperation that proved enough for Golden State to pull out a 116-115 victory.
“The start was bad. We know we gotta get better, but I think it’s all about the finish,” said Anthony Edwards, who scored 28 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had five turnovers. “Not moral victories, but we fought. We were down 10 to 32 in the first quarter. You’d have thought it was going to be like (a 26-point loss to) New York. But we fought, so I’m proud of that.”
Edwards spent seven minutes delving thoughtfully into the game and the state of the team as they approach the halfway point of the season, but grasping for silver linings was going to fall on deaf ears after that one.
This is a game the Wolves needed. They were 4-1 in their last five, showing a tiny bit of momentum after changing up their starting lineup and needing to pile up wins with a murderous schedule coming up, starting with back-to-back games at New York on Friday and home against Cleveland on Saturday. There are no excuses that can come close to justifying this one.
The Wolves (21-19) were fully healthy while the Warriors (20-20) were playing without Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Kyle Anderson and Brandin Podziemski. Golden State started Gui Santos, who has spent much of the season in the G League, at power forward against Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert, who make a combined $77 million this season.
In his first career start, Santos grabbed seven rebounds and the Warriors won his 21 minutes, 26 seconds by five points. He had never made a 3-pointer in the NBA before hitting one from the corner in the first quarter.
First NBA start
THREE for Gui
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) January 16, 2025
The Wolves are in the middle of a physically taxing part of the schedule in which they are flying every other day, going back and forth without more than a day in the same city. But the Warriors were finishing up a long, four-game road trip themselves.
The referees, a frequent target of Minnesota’s ire, couldn’t be blamed this time around, either. The Warriors were whistled for nine more fouls and the Wolves shot eight more free throws in the game. They shot 20 free throws in the third quarter alone.
Most of all, the Warriors have struggled massively after a hot start. They have gone 5-16 since Nov. 23, and three of those victories have come against the Wolves.
Sure, the Wolves will regret two losses to Portland in November, the loss in Toronto and the home loss to Miami without Jimmy Butler. But if they can’t pull themselves together in the second half of the season and push themselves into the top six in a crowded Western Conference playoff field, they will look back at the three losses to these Warriors with enormous regret.
“They came out how we should’ve come out,” said Donte DiVincenzo, who had 28 points, nine assists and six rebounds. “There’s no excuses. I think we just have to be better to start the game. We got it together. We fought and clawed our way back, but we start the game differently, this is a different story.”
Steph Curry scored 12 points in the first quarter, going 4 of 4 from 3-point range, and had three assists in 9:25. The entire Wolves team shot 5 of 20, 1 of 8 from 3 and had one assist.
Trayce Jackson-Davis, Golden State’s second-year center, grabbed six rebounds in the first quarter, and three on the offensive end. He was giving up five inches and four NBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards to Gobert, yet outrebounded the Wolves big man 15-10.
Nine of Jackson-Davis’s boards came on the offensive end and the win was sealed for the Warriors when Gobert could not secure a missed free throw from Gary Payton II that should have given the Wolves the ball and a chance to win the game. That came two games after the Wolves were crushed on the offensive glass against Memphis, giving the Grizzlies 25 extra shots in a two-point loss.
“I think Rudy‘s got to go get the ball in the air,” coach Chris Finch said. “I think he’s trying to play a hand-to-hand combat game, and he gets tied up too much doing that.”
Gobert is averaging just 10.5 rebounds per game, his lowest number since his second season in the league. He averaged 12.9 boards last season, which helped him tie the record for DPOY awards, but has not been anywhere near as effective this season. The Timberwolves are 22nd in the league in defensive rebounding percentage. They were ninth last season.
Certainly having Karl-Anthony Towns at power forward instead of Julius Randle helps that some, but such a precipitous drop is a direct reflection of Gobert’s regression this season.
“I think, a lot of times, the defensive rebound starts before the shot, when we get out of position and things like that,” Gobert said. “Just keep being who we are defensively, and then, on the ball, just all do a better job, and it starts with me.”
Minnesota turned the ball over five times in the quarter, and the Warriors scored 12 points off of the errors. For the game, the turnover-prone Wolves only gave it up nine times, but Golden State turned them into 22 points, a ridiculously high conversion rate.
The starting lineup has been a real problem for the Wolves all season long until Finch made the change to put DiVincenzo in at point guard and bring Mike Conley off the bench. Minnesota is 4-1 since the change with the starters posting an excellent plus-17.2 points per 100 possessions net rating in 65 minutes together during that stretch. The previous starting lineup had a plus-0.2 rating through the first 34 games of the season, so the improvement offered some optimism that a two-year search for some offensive heft was starting to turn up some solutions.
Then came Wednesday night in front of a national audience. They did not score until the 7:33 mark of the quarter. They were outrebounded 16-8 despite missing 15 shots. Edwards was 1 of 5 with two turnovers in the quarter. Randle was 1 of 6.
“The starting five, we are terrible,” Edwards said. “Every game we come out low energy and the second group comes in and gives us energy. I would say the starting group has gotta come out with more energy like we want to play the game of basketball, like we love the game.”
The Wolves did battle back, hitting shots and playing better defensively over the final three quarters. In particular, DiVincenzo was terrific, hitting 6 of 12 3s and crashing the boards with reckless abandon to help out his beleaguered frontcourt mates.
just how we drew it up. 😉 pic.twitter.com/7mHFiC6kQY
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) January 16, 2025
Naz Reid converted two free throws to tie the game with 1:07 to play. But the problem with falling behind by so much in the first quarter is it leaves zero margin for error the rest of the way. And the Wolves committed some costly ones down the stretch.
DiVincenzo fouled Buddy Hield on a 3-point shot with 3:20 to play. Edwards just lost the greatest shooter to ever live with 2:36 to play, giving Curry a great look at a 3 that made the score 108-103. And right after Reid’s free throws tied the game, the Warriors put the Wolves defense in a scramble in the half court. Reid had the unenviable task of staying in Curry’s hip pocket, and he turned his head for a split second. Edwards had his back to Curry as he caught the pass for a wide-open corner 3.
Splash.
Sheeeessh Stephen.
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) January 16, 2025
The Wolves still had a chance when Payton missed his second free throw with 10.4 seconds left. Had Gobert grabbed the board, the Wolves would have had the ball down 114-112. But Kevon Looney poked it away from him and Andrew Wiggins pounced on it.
“The game was lost in the first quarter. That’s the obvious statement,” Finch said. “And then you have to play perfect and it came down to, you know, a couple missed layups, losing curry, not being able to secure a free throw either.”
Reid had 15 points and six boards in 29 minutes, finishing the game at power forward in place of Randle, who had 17 points and six boards in 27 minutes and left the locker room very quickly after the game.
All season long the Timberwolves have been unable to put a run together because of their inability to avoid prolonged stretches of poor play in a game. On Wednesday night it was 12 points in the first quarter that did them in. They are now 40 games into this season and they have not been able to shake it.
And now the road gets even harder. After the Knicks and Cavaliers games on Friday and Saturday, the Wolves go to Memphis and Dallas before returning home to face the improving Denver Nuggets and pesky Atlanta Hawks. If they fall behind against those teams, they will be quickly buried and summarily dismissed.
For most of the season, they have lacked the focus, the urgency and the cohesion needed to have consistency. Right now, they are a mediocre team with mediocre habits.
There have been glimmers of progress over the last few weeks, especially since Finch changed the starting lineup. But the high points came in wins over the LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, injury-ravaged Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards.
Now it is time to find out just what these Wolves are made of.
(Photo of Donte DiVincenzo and Kevon Looney: Jordan Johnson / NBAE via Getty Images)
