Even with Stephen Curry missing the entire fourth quarter due to an injury after a tussle with Ricky Rubio, the Golden State Warriors have enough offensive weapons to take care business, with Klay Thompson being on top of that list, leading his team to a 106-93 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Sometimes referred to as the Luigi of the Splash brothers, Thompson scored 30 points, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. He is averaging 24 points on the Warriors’ 4-1 start, shooting 57.9% from the field. He scored 19 of his points in the fourth quarter, as the Warriors kept on pulling away from the Timberwolves, having an awful defensive night.
One of the key factors in the Warriors’ win was Harrison Barnes, finally playing after resting quite a bit during the first week of the season. Golden State had a tough time getting things going, but his energy and scoring early on seemed to be the glue that kept them together, denying Minnesota the chance to generate a big lead early on. Barnes finished with 14 points, 8 of them coming in the first quarter.
The Warriors did a great job in roughing up Ricky Rubio and taking him out of the game. He scored only 7 points on 2-of-8 from the field, which made things quite ugly for Minnesota on offense. Kevin Love scored 25 points and Kevin Martin added 23, but at no point did they look like a team about to go on a run that will bring them back into the game during the second half.
Stephen Curry and Rubio, both with their share of injuries in the past, got tangled up. It took Curry out of the game, not even playing in the fourth quarter, leaving with only 5 points in his 24 minutes. Luckily for the Warriors, Andre Iguodala has no problem turning his offense on and off almost at will, once again having a big night with 20 points, joined by David Lee who added 22 with 15 rebounds.
Andrew Bogut isn’t playing big minutes, but he and Jermaine O’Neal are being very effective in defending the paint and denying the Timberwolves offensive rebounds (only 9), not to mention anchoring a defense that kept Minnesota at only 37.8% from the field, although most of their problems came from a very lazy defensive effort, allowing Golden State to score 20 fast break points and add 48 inside the paint.
We’re a better team than that defensively. There were a lot of times where, I was guilty of it too, but I was throwing my hands up and was like, `Where is the weakside help.
The Warriors look as promised: A deep and talented side which is no longer looking only to Stephen Curry in order to keep the scoring going. Klay Thompson can be just as deadly of a shooter on some nights, and bringing in Andre Iguodala as someone who has no problem playing a different role each night might make a big difference down the road, possibly giving the Warriors home court advantage when it’s all said and done, at least for one round it the playoffs.
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