The Minnesota Timberwolves will look to capture a crowning achievement during their fast start to the season when they go for a sweep of a back-to-back set against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco on Tuesday night in an NBA in-season tournament game.
The Timberwolves got 33 points from Anthony Edwards and shot 52.4 percent during a 116-110 win at Golden State in the opener of the two-game, same-site matchup on Sunday.
Karl-Anthony Towns (21 points, 14 rebounds) and Rudy Gobert (10 points, 10 rebounds) contributed to the hot shooting with a combined 12-for-21 effort from the field.
Gobert noted afterward that winning a second straight game over the Warriors will be more difficult than simply stealing one road win.
“Tuesday’s gonna be a different game,” he said. “They’re probably gonna make some adjustments. We did a lot of great things, but we did a lot of things that, for our standards, I think we’re gonna be able to do better on Tuesday.”
One of the things the Timberwolves did well Sunday was limit the Warriors to 38.5 percent shooting overall and 12-for-43 (27.9 percent) from beyond the arc. Stephen Curry went for 38 points, but Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins couldn’t break out of their shooting slumps, combining for 22 points, going 8-for-23 overall and 3-for-12 from 3-point range.
Draymond Green blamed the Warriors’ poor offensive night on a lack of organization.
“I got to do a better job of making sure we’re getting into some things. Chris (Paul) got to do a better job. We both need to do a better job of getting us into things,” Green said. “When Steph’s got it going, he’s got it going. It’s on us to realize that and learn how to also use him when he’s got it going to get other guys looks as well. We’ll be better with it.”
The game will also have a different look. The Warriors will be making their home debut in the in-season tournament, which means introducing a new color scheme on the home court.
Golden State didn’t appear to be distracted by Oklahoma City’s colorful court when the Warriors put up 141 points in a two-point road win in each team’s initial experience with the new event on Nov. 3. Thompson (18 points, 6-for-10 shooting) and Wiggins (17, 6-for-11) excelled in complementary roles to Curry’s 30 points in the win.
The Timberwolves also have won their only previous tournament game, 117-110 over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday at the start of their current five-game trip. Towns had 29 points and 12 rebounds and Edwards chipped in with 28 points in the win.
The Warriors, Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings are all 1-0 in the tournament’s five-team West Group C. Minnesota will host Sacramento on Nov. 24, while Golden State will visit the Kings four days later in the round-robin event in which only the top team in each of the six groups is assured of advancing to the quarterfinals.
–Field Level Media
