OT loss to Minnesota dims Warriors’ record prospects
The Warriors (69-9) failed in their first attempt to become the second 70-win team in NBA history and will have to close the season with four straight wins to break the single-season record of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.
The Warriors will have a chance to clinch the top seed in the Western Conference and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs with a victory Thursday against San Antonio, but they forgot to take care of the Timberwolves (26-52) first.
Minnesota fought back from its 17-point, third-quarter deficit to take its first lead since early in the game on an Andrew Wiggins free throw with 4:42 remaining in overtime.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr thought his team lost the game in the first quarter, when it failed to make good on a 15-point lead established in the opening seven minutes.
“We came out and played a phenomenal first six minutes: locked in on both ends,” Kerr said.
The Warriors committed a season-high 24 turnovers — gaffes that Minnesota converted into 31 points.
When the Warriors weren’t coughing up the ball, they were taking bad shots and failing to retreat into transition defense.
Minnesota scored 28 fastbreak points and shot 51.2 percent from the floor, including 47.1 percent from three-point range.
All of that bad came on a night that started so promisingly as the Warriors got as close to full strength as they’ve been since Festus Ezeli injured his knee Jan. 25.
Center Andrew Bogut returned from a one-game absence with a rib injury, and Andre Iguodala played for the first time since he sprained his left ankle March 11.
The Warriors couldn’t take advantage of their newfound depth with Stephen Curry struggling.
All five starters scored in double figures for the first time since Nov. 12, and Curry had 21 points and 15 assists on a 7-for-25 shooting night.
Bogut had 10 points, 15 rebounds and five assists, Draymond Green added 12 points, nine assists and six rebounds, and Shaun Livingston scored 14 points off the bench.
The Warriors needed fewer than seven minutes to take a 15-point lead and were still ahead by 12 points with 53.9 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Minnesota wouldn’t go away, using a 17-6 run to cut its deficit to 90-89 on Zach LaVine’s layup with 9:09 on the fourth-quarter clock and completing the comeback on Muhammad’s three-pointer that tied it 94-94 with 6:39 left.
After Wiggins put the Timberwolves ahead 110-106 with the first four points of overtime, Green fouled out with 2:34 remaining on a play that sent Muhammad to the foul line for two shots and a 114-109 lead.
The Warriors trimmed their deficit to two on Curry’s three-point play with 1:18 left, but they made just 1 of 5 shots in the closing 50.9 seconds.
The Warriors’ last four games of the regular season are against two teams, San Antonio and Memphis.