What we learned as Steph powered the Warriors’ win over Wolves originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
BOX SCORE
SAN FRANCISCO – The opponent was the same, but the product on the field and the result were very different two days later.
The Warriors mustered just 90 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 17-point loss on Friday night. On Sunday they had 93 points through three quarters and outlasted Anthony Edwards and Co. for a huge 114-106 win at Chase Center.
Draymond Green put the Timberwolves to sleep with an emphatic dunk and then dropped Steph Curry’s legendary late night celebration.
Curry scored 30 points in the game and made five three-pointers. It was his third 30-point performance of the season and first since Nov. 12. Curry was joined by a monster performance from Buddy Hield, who gave Golden State 27 points, including seven threes.
Hield’s 27 points were his highest since he scored 27 on Nov. 2. It was also the first time he had 20 or more points since November 4.
The smaller Warriors won with will, defeating the Timberwolves 45-39. They had 18 more points in the paint than Minnesota, and 15 more points on the second chance.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ victory.
Steph Toon
After a one-game absence on the first night of a back-to-back, Curry scored 23 points against the Timberwolves on Friday night, but did so while going 6 of 17 from the field and 3 of 9 behind the three-point line.
The Timberwolves are tall, aggressive and have a suffocating defense when they are at their best. Jaden McDaniels, 6-foot-1 with a nearly 7-foot wingspan, is one of the better defenders in basketball and makes nights tough for everyone, including Curry.
McDaniels made it difficult for Curry to start the game, as the Warriors superstar scored just four points in the first quarter. Then came a Curry flurry in the second quarter.
Curry took advantage of every tuck he could get in the second quarter. Once there was an inch of space, Curry made Minnesota pay. He exploded for 15 points in the second quarter on 5-for-8 shooting, including 3-for-6 on threes. His 19 points were his highest total for a first half all season.
The only problem was that no other Warrior had more than eight points in the first half. The scoring didn’t stop for Curry. Coming out of halftime, he dropped nine more in the third quarter — including an epic buzzer-beater — and two more in the fourth.
Hield is getting hot
Steve Kerr had to get creative with his starting line-up, with Andrew Wiggins out due to a right ankle collision. Gary Payton II was brought in to guard Edwards, and Hield was part of the group because of his shooting.
Lately, however, Hield’s shot has been ice cold, until Sunday evening. Hield missed both of his three-point attempts in the previous game and was 1 of 6 the game before. Since going 5-of-8 from 3-point range on Nov. 27, he went 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) from beyond the arc in his next four games, averaging just 6.5 points.
Hield was held scoreless in the first quarter on Sunday and missed both of his three-point attempts, including an airball. Slowly but surely he started to feel warm. Hield scored eight points in the second quarter and then 11 big points as the Warriors dropped 44 points on the Timberwolves in the third quarter, giving them a 93-90 lead entering the fourth.
The biggest shot of the game was undoubtedly Hield’s as he hit the corner three with 57 seconds left, giving the Warriors a 112-106 lead.
No TJD
The Timberwolves employ one of the tallest players in the NBA in the 7-1 Gobert, and yet the Warriors’ starting center sat the entire game from their season opener. Trayce Jackson-Davis had no reason to take off his warm-up gear. Kerr played 10 Warriors, and Jackson-Davis was one of them, joining only Pat Spencer and Gui Santos.
Jackson-Davis started the Warriors’ first 17 games in his second season as a pro. He played just four minutes off the bench in their 18th game, a four-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and then was back in the starting lineup where he played 15 minutes against the Phoenix Suns.
But Jackson-Davis has now been left out of the starting lineup for four games in a row. In the first three, he still averaged almost 18 minutes per game. Sunday, however, marked the first time Jackson-Davis wasn’t called up.
The 6-9 center was a perfect 11 of 11 from the field in the Warriors’ first two games. In his first 11 games, Jackson-Davis shot 68.4 percent from the field, but his finishing has deteriorated dramatically since then. In his last eleven games he has scored a total of 52.2 percent, and that number drops to a modest 45 percent from the five previous games.
Jackson-Davis, picked No. 57 overall, was a difference-maker as a rookie. Now in Year 2, he’s trying to figure out where he best fits with the Warriors.
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