Timberwolves-Warriors Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Nov 24 2012 2:46AM

Kevin Love has returned from injury with a pair of his customary double-doubles, but neither helped the Minnesota Timberwolves snap out of their funk.

It's been a similar story against the Golden State Warriors in recent years, too.

Golden State seeks its 10th victory in 12 meetings versus struggling Minnesota, which it hosts Saturday night.

The Timberwolves got off to a surprising 5-2 start without Love, who was recovering from a broken right hand, and injured guard Ricky Rubio, but things haven't gone well despite the return of their star forward.

Love scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a 101-94 loss to Denver on Wednesday, then finished with 24 and 13, respectively, in Friday's 103-95 defeat at Portland for Minnesota's fourth straight loss.

Nikola Pekovic added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves (5-6), who allowed Portland to shoot 53.8 percent - the best an opponent has shot against them this season.

"We just didn't defend them well enough," coach Rick Adelman said. "They shot the hell out of the ball, and we didn't finish plays at the basket."

Portland hit 11 of 25 from 3-point range after Denver made 9 of 21 from behind the arc Wednesday.

"They just couldn't miss. It's as easy as that," Love said.

Love's career average of 20.4 points in 12 games - which include two with 20-plus rebounds and 10 double-doubles - against Golden State is his second-best against any team, but Minnesota is only 4-8 in those contests.

He sat out Minnesota's 106-98 loss to Warriors on Nov. 16, as Harrison Barnes and David Lee (13 rebounds) scored 18 points apiece for Golden State.

The Warriors (7-6) had won four of their previous five before Friday's 102-91 loss at Denver. Lee finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, but Barnes had only four points while leading scorer Stephen Curry battled foul trouble and ended up with a season-low six.

Carl Landry (19 points, eight rebounds) and Jarrett Jack (17 points) each had solid performances off the bench.

Curry entered the game averaging a team-best 19.3 points.

"I don't know. It was a rough one out there for everybody," said Curry, who didn't score until hitting a 3-pointer with 3:21 remaining in the game. "I was coming back and forth off the bench and missed a lot of time in the first half.

"That's no excuse. I have to be more aggressive."

Golden State's 16.7 turnovers per game rank 26th in the NBA, and they committed another 14 on Friday - including eight in the second half that helped Denver erase the Warriors' six-point halftime lead.

It also is giving up 99.8 points per game, which ranks 24th.

"They turned it up a notch and we ran for the hills and didn't respond," coach Mark Jackson said. "We didn't help the cause by turning over the basketball and we allowed them transition points. So they got it going. But we didn't try to stop it. We actually helped them keep it going."

Curry hit 7 of 12 shots and scored 17 points in last week's win over the Wolves, and he's averaging 24.2 in his last four games against them.

Warriors rally to beat Timberwolves

By MICHAEL WAGAMAN
Posted Nov 25 2012 2:13AM

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Golden State rookie Harrison Barnes provided the signature moment of the game when he threw down a thunderous one-handed dunk over Minnesota center Nikola Pekovic in the second quarter.

It was Barnes' rebounding that excited Warriors coach Mark Jackson the most.

Barnes had 10 points and 11 rebounds, Klay Thompson scored a season-high 24 points and Golden State beat Minnesota 96-85 on Saturday night.

The seventh overall pick in this year's draft, Barnes had three points as part of a 19-2 run in the fourth quarter, but it was his emphatic dunk over Pekovic that had the Oracle Arena crowd buzzing.

After Alexey Shved's layup gave the Timberwolves a 41-38 lead, Barnes raced down the court and took a bounce pass from David Lee before grabbing the ball with his right hand and slamming it through the hoop as Pekovic tried to stop him.

"Top, by far," Barnes said when asked where the dunk ranked in his basketball career. "It probably would have been a little bit better if it would have been and-one. I just wanted to finish strong."

Jackson called it a big-time play by his young rookie.

"Well it's behind Tom Chambers' (dunk) over me," Jackson said. "Harrison really showed his athletic ability and that's going to be one that he will remember for a long time to come. More importantly for him, he led us in rebounds. You've got to be committed as a big man to box out Pekovic and also Kevin Love."

Love, playing in his third game since returning from a broken right hand, had 15 points and 15 rebounds but couldn't prevent Minnesota from losing its fifth straight.

He wore a black protective pad on his hand most of the night before ripping it off and tossing it to the bench with six minutes remaining.

"It's very restricting," Love said. "I can't bend my hand all the way back and I couldn't get a good feel for the basketball. The doctor said it was OK to play but at the same time he warned that I'm coming back two weeks early and I have to keep working on my conditioning, my range of motion and shooting."

Stephen Curry had 20 points and six assists, while Lee added 17 points and eight rebounds for Golden State, which has won 10 of 12 against Minnesota.

The Warriors trailed most of the game but went on a 19-2 run, with reserves Carl Landry, Draymond Green and Barnes providing the bulk of the scoring. Landry had five points and Green had four to help Golden State go ahead for good.

Thompson was criticized earlier in the week after a poor shooting performance against Dallas on Nov. 19, but has been steady since. He shot just 1 of 8 from 3-point range but was 7 of 9 inside the arc and is averaging 21 points over his past three games. Landry finished with 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Minnesota, still missing several key injured players, couldn't keep up and lost its fifth straight.

The Timberwolves made several mistakes along the way, blowing a 3-on-1 fast break in the first half, then shooting just 32.4 percent in the second half.

Not even a gift basket by Golden State's Andris Biedrins was enough to help coach Rick Adelman's struggling squad. Biedrins was battling a teammate for a rebound underneath Minnesota's basket when he accidentally tipped the ball into the hoop.

The Warriors also outrebounded the Timberwolves 48-39.

"A lot of it is the big men have to play better defense, and that's mostly me," Love said. "I have to take the blame, and some of the other bigs do, too, because we have to help each other out."

The Warriors have their own injury issues.

They lost key reserve Brandon Rush to a season-ending knee injury in their home opener on Nov. 2, and have been without center Andrew Bogut for nine straight games and backup forward Richard Jefferson for four.

Bogut, the No. 1 overall pick in 2005 who broke his ankle on Jan. 25, has played in only four games this season but the team said last week it hopes the 7-foot Australian can resume practicing Monday.

Love had six quick rebounds in his third game since returning from a broken right hand but was on the bench when the Timberwolves built a 35-24 lead with mostly reserves on the floor.

The Warriors came back and tied the score at 47-all on Thompson's short runner, but Jose Barea made a 9-foot jumper and Andrei Kirilenko followed with a dunk to give Minnesota a 51-47 halftime lead.

Notebook: Warriors 96, Timberwolves 85

Geoff Lepper, for NBA.com
Posted Sun Nov 25, 2012 2:01 AM - Updated Sun Nov 25, 2012 2:01 AM

THE FACTS: Klay Thompson scored a season-high 24 points and Stephen Curry added 20 points with six assists as the Golden State Warriors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 96-85 Saturday night. Carl Landry had 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench for the Warriors, who improved to 3-1 this season finishing up back-to-back sets. Golden State was 9-10 in that category last season. Rookie forward Harrison Barnes posted his third NBA double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.

One night after allowing 55 second-half points in a disappointing 102-91 loss at Denver, the Warriors held Minnesota to just 11 points in the fourth period, a season best for the franchise. The Timberwolves missed 11 of 15 shots in the quarter, and hit just 38.4 percent for the game. Kevin Love added 15 points and 15 rebounds for his third straight double-double since coming back from a broken right hand to start the season, but he couldn't keep Minnesota from losing for a fifth straight time. Nikola Pekovic had 17 points but suffered a mammoth facial from Barnes.

QUOTABLE: "We're 8-6 without our starting center [Andrew Bogut], without our sixth man [Brandon Rush], with a bunch of young guys that just flat-out compete. There's going to be some tough nights for us, I don't have to be a prophet to tell you that, but this team has something about it that refuses to let go of the rope."

-- Warriors coach Mark Jackson

THE STAT: Golden State's starting backcourt of Curry and Thompson outscored their opposite numbers with Minnesota -- Luke Ridnour and Malcolm Lee -- by a staggering 44-2 count.

TURNING POINT: The Warriors trailed 79-74 with 10:20 remaining after a Dante Cunningham layup before Golden State's defense tightened the screws on Minnesota, forcing the Timberwolves into a 7 1/2-minute stretch where the visitors were 1-for-9 from the floor with four turnovers. Meanwhile, Landry scored six of his 18 points to power a 19-2 run that left the Warriors leading 93-81 with 2:40 remaining.

GOOD MOVE: Despite Thompson's hot shooting, Jackson went with his defensive specialists in the fourth quarter, giving the bulk of his minutes to reserves Landry, Jarrett Jack and rookie Draymond Green. Landry keyed the Warriors offensively, but Green's work -- especially his tireless and successful banging against Love in the low block -- was critical to stifling Minnesota's offense down the stretch.

HOT: Continuing his resurgence from a wretched shooting slump to open the season, Thompson went 8-for-17 Saturday, and could have padded his point total if not for a 1-for-8 night behind the 3-point arc. He's a combined 24-for-48 in his last three contests after opening at 31.5 percent in Golden State's first 11 games.

QUOTABLE II: "It's good to see him shooting with confidence, being aggressive and not worrying about missing shots, because at the end of the day, he's not coming out for missing shots. That's not going to happen. He's too good of a shooter and obviously you can see the weapon that he adds to our offense."

-- Warriors' Mark Jackson on Klay Thompson

NOT: Jackson fretted before the game that Love would find his shooting touch against the Warriors. Instead, Love went 6-for-20 from the floor and seemed bothered by the protective brace he wore on his hand, eventually discarding it midway through the fourth quarter after missing on a pair of short jump hooks.

ROOKIE WATCH: With 2:25 remaining in the second quarter, Barnes cut down a wide-open lane, collected a pass from David Lee out of the low post and delivered a vicious right-handed windmill slam over the defenseless Pekovic. It ranked as possibly the franchise's best dunk since Baron Davis crammed over Andrei Kirilenko during Golden State's "We Believe" playoff run of 2007, and brought the house down on each of its multiple showings on the Oracle Arena scoreboard.

QUOTABLE III: "Oh my God! He dunked on his head!"

-- Warriors' Stephen Curry on Harrison Barnes' huge dunk on Nikola Pekovic.

NOTABLE: Minnesota's bench provided 40 of the Timberwolves' 85 points. Second-year forward Derrick Williams -- healthy but unused the Timberwolves' previous two games by coach Rick Adelman -- came back in the second half and responded with 10 points, two blocks and a steal. . . . This was Golden State's second win this season after trailing heading into the fourth quarter. The Warriors had dropped six straight games in that situation after a season-opening comeback at Phoenix.

UP NEXT: For the Warriors, Thursday vs. Denver, Saturday vs. Indiana, Monday vs. Orlando. For the Timberwolves, Tuesday @ Sacramento, Wednesday @ Clippers, Friday vs. Milwaukee.

• Timberwolves: Budinger, Roy, Rubio
• Warriors: Bogut, Rush

• Timberwolves: Barea
• Warriors: Lee

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA
• Officials: #40 Leon Wood, #8 Marc Davis, #46 Ben Taylor
• Attendance: 19084
• Duration: 2:11