The four-time NBA champion and two-time Most Valuable Player, Stephen Curry, spent the past 15 days at home meticulously studying film of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Staying up all night. His Golden State Warriors were eliminated by Minnesota just seven months ago, and he sat helplessly on the bench as they were nearly swept. Cue the video of him hopelessly shaking his head in disbelief.
You better believe this was the biggest game of Steph’s career.
Okay, maybe not. But there’s no way he didn’t think a little extra about this one. The Warriors have mostly just been treading water early this season, dealing with defensive issues and availability from their old core. It was Curry’s first game back from a quad injury as well. Unfortunately, the Wolves were on the receiving end of his return to action. To make matters worse, both Anthony Edwards and Mike Conley were both late scratches due to short-term injuries.
Bones Hyland, who just had a productive game against Phoenix, got the spot start.
He left the game after just five minutes due to a knee contusion.
No matter. A game was still to be played.
The Warriors weren’t without their own absences. One-time Defensive Player of the Year, Draymond Green, was out due to personal reasons. The Wolves took advantage of Golden State without their defensive lynchpin. Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, and Jaden McDaniels looked damn near unstoppable in the paint on offense. They converted on a combined 13 of 16 shots inside the arc in the first half.
Golden State had offensive weapons of their own too, though. A flurry of Minnesota defensive miscommunications allowed wide open three-point attempt after wide open three-point attempt for the home team. The Wolves were very fortunate that the Warriors missed on eight of 11 looks in the first quarter. It wasn’t long before Steph Curry, Buddy Hield, and Quinten Post eventually found their range. They tallied seven triples, shooting at an 44% clip heading into the break.
A back-and-forth first half totaled 20 lead changes with neither team gaining more than a two possession lead.
This continued throughout the entire third quarter. Every time one team seemed to have found a groove, the other team would counter right back. Minnesota’s defense opened the quarter with two straight pick-six’s. Golden State countered with an 8-0 run. Minnesota fired right back with a 9-0 run off three straight triples. Golden State answered the call with a 10-0 run without Curry on the floor.
It all took us into a pivotal fourth and final quarter.
The Wolves seized control of the game almost immediately. They went nuclear, embarking on a wild 17-0 run off impressive defensive sequences left and right. It was capped off a patented McDaniels slow-step move (Which the officials had just called a travel minutes ago) that forced Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr to call a timeout. As both teams walked to the bench with Minnesota up 12 and 5:50 remaining, all that could be heard was Anthony Edwards screaming from the bench in street clothes.
The Timberwolves were up 12 points. In the fourth quarter. Entering clutch time?
A Curry jumper. A Curry triple. Turnovers in the backcourt. Bad shot selection. Shut up. It was like the scene from Mean Girls where Cady Heron was about to throw up on Aaron Samuels. Minnesota was about to vomit the lead.
Unlike the 2025 NBA playoffs, Steph Curry would not watch the Wolves pull away. An extended 21-6 Warriors run put them up 117-114 in what seemed like a blink of an eye. All hope was lost and if you were participating in any Timberwolves social media circles or group chats, it was most certainly over. Could this game even be chalked up as a moral victory, considering the Wolves were without Anthony Edwards while on the road against a MVP-level performance by Steph Curry? Doubtful.
The former Warrior had shot an ineffective two for eight from beyond the arc up until that point. Minnesota crossed halfcourt and DiVincenzo pulled up for what looked like a poor decision three-point attempt. It went in. Game tied. It seemed like false hope though, as he would commit an unnecessary blocking foul on Curry with Golden State in the bonus. Surely, that would be another two-point Warriors lead. The career 91.2% free throw shooter had already missed one free throw earlier tonight, so it was unlikely that lightning would strike twice.
But he missed a second one (Shoutout Alan Horton with the commentator curse).
On the ensuing play, McDaniels drove baseline and dropped a beautiful dime to Gobert that even Ricky Rubio would be proud of. Gobert smashed in what seemed like his tenth dunk of the night on Post, forcing the 27th lead change in emphatic fashion.
Perhaps still shaken from what Gobert just did to him, Post stared down the barrel of a wide open three-pointer for about four literal seconds before bricking the attempt. Naz Reid, who had been spectacular in the first half, drew a loose ball foul and split a pair of free throws. It looked like it was all setup perfectly for a Chef Curry walk-off dessert to end the night. A “Good Night” celly to boot.
Kerr setup a staggered screens look for Curry who went screaming across the right side of the court to the left. Gobert and McDaniels chased, but just as Gobert peeled off to cover the paint, Curry created just enough space with a step-back move, straddling the three-point arc. He pump faked McDaniels into the air before launching a contested look.
Timberwolves Head Coach, Chris Finch, who had just used a flurry of timeouts during the Warriors big run, let his team thug it out. Randle had the ball just past halfcourt and called for a Gobert screen. Right as they entered the action, Randle fired a 100 mile-per-hour dart to DiVincenzo in the left corner. It caught everyone off guard.
DiVincenzo immediately let it fly.
One of the most improbable comebacks after a very probable collapse, all without their All-NBA and MVP candidate superstar. All without two of their only functioning point guards. On the road. Against Steph Curry, who was looking for revenge in his first game back.
Donte DiVincenzo didn’t care.
- Aside from Donte’s heroics, Rudy Gobert probably has to get the game ball. For as boneheaded of a outcome as he had versus Phoenix, he certainly earned back his good will tonight. He put up a massive 24-point, 14-rebound double-double while converting on 11 of 13 field goals attempts. That’s game five elimination game versus the Lakers territory. He finished a number of impressive plays in the paint throughout the game.
- Julius Randle deserves a lot of flowers today as well. He led the team with 27 points to go with 9 rebounds and 6 assists. He set the tone with his physicality, bullying a team that had no interior defense whatsoever (Though we saw what he did to Draymond in the playoffs). Helluva an effort in just the way the Wolves needed.
- Not to be outdone was the work Jaden McDaniels put in. Guarding Steph Curry all game is always a thankless task, but he’s always game. At one point, he got tangled up with Curry in the third quarter and just threw him to the ground in a way only Jaden would. Somehow, the officials caught Curry initiating that sequence so he got away with it.
- We all have to be sick of the Rob Dillingham discourse by now, but it’s going to continue so long as he’s on the roster. A 20-year-old, top 10 draft pick in year two can’t seem to produce, nor get much of a leash to produce, despite the first string or second string point guard available to play. But! Just when it looked like it was another garbage bin Rob performance, he pulled up in the fourth quarter for two buckets that helped get the snowball rolling. One of them being an impressive off the dribble blow-by of Jimmy Butler for a layup.
- Jaylen Clark did some Jaylen Clark things, but on both ends. We got some flashes of his overaggressiveness getting the better of him, but at the end of the day, he played more than 14 minutes and the Wolves improved to 13-0 when that happens.
- Naz Reid went off for 14 points in the first half, but was relatively quiet afterwards. He continues to get beat on backdoor cuts which is concerning, but he’s still continuing to get buckets.
- Big picture wise, it seems the Warriors are stuck in a pretty tough spot. Jimmy Butler (Almost went the entire recap without saying his name!) looks like a shell of himself. Draymond’s age is catching up to him, as his production is nearing a career lows. Jonathan Kuminga, the key to Golden State’s “Two Timelines” has been fully regulated to DNP-CDs now. They rely solely on a soon-to-be 38-year-old to win any basketball games. Oh well, who cares about them.
- Oh, and Steph Curry (Who’s a sneaker free agent) was wearing Ant’s shoes tonight. Maybe Tim Connelly should trade for him.
GooseHerder with the timely reminder that Adam Silver does not care about us.
The Wolves return home for a five-game homestand starting against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, December 14 at 7:00 pm CT. The Kings are unintentionally tanking and hold a 6-19 record, but that didn’t stop them from sucking the life out of the Wolves exactly a month ago. The game will be available on FanDuel Sports North.
