AP Photo/Stacy Bengs

By Robert Steward

MINNEAPOLIS–

The Golden State Warriors continued their torrid start tonight by defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves, 102-86. With the victory the Warriors won their franchise-record 13th in a row over an injury-depleted Minnesota squad to improve to a league-best 18-2. The T-Wolves, who came into the game at 4-15 were short-handed, playing without leading scorer Kevin Martin and leading rebounder Nikola Pekovic. Still, the Warriors came out flat and played sloppy, hitting only their first 4 of 15 shots and were only up, 9-6, with 5:43 left in the first quarter before Coach Steve Kerr called a timeout to bark at his team. Minnesota was also as cold as the weather outside in Minneapolis, hitting just 2 of their first 14 shots. After the timeout both teams shot better with Golden State having the edge after one quarter at 25-20.

The sloppy play, however, continued in the second quarter as both teams made numerous turnovers and Golden State led only by two, 36-34 with 5:29 left. Following a timeout, the Warriors ran off 7 straight points and finished the first half with a 48-39 lead, which matched their biggest lead of the half. The Warriors had 10 turnovers in the half, but Minnesota outdid them with 13 of their own. In addition, the Warriors were cold from 3-point range. Klay Thompson was the lone shooter who hit from long-distance, hitting 3 of 6 from downtown, while the rest of the Warriors were 0 for 9 in the first half. Minnesota was 0 for 5 shooting three’s. The Warriors as a team managed to only shoot 38% from the floor in the first half, while the T-Wolves shot only 36%. Golden State did have 11 steals in the half.

In the third quarter the Warriors “brought the energy,” as Kerr put it, and forced the tempo more. The Warriors, who are first in the NBA in fast-break points, settled down and committed fewer turnovers, while increasing their lead to 11. But the Timberwolves hung around and after Thaddeus Young hit the team’s first 3-pointer and followed it with a 14-foot jumper, they were only down 62-56, with 5:07 left in the quarter. The Warriors then ran off 7 in a row of their own, finishing the run with Stephen Curry’s first trey of the night to go up, 69-56, with 4:03 left in the 3rd, forcing Minnesota coach Flip Saunders to burn another timeout. The Warriors continued to add to their lead, eventually scoring 13 straight points to open up a 75-56 lead until Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins stopped the bleeding with two free throws. Golden State led, 79-63, after 3.

The Warriors continued to find their focus in the 4th, extending their lead to its largest of the game by 22 points. While Coach Kerr wasn’t pleased with the lack of effort in the early going and felt the Warriors were too lazy in switching on defense, which allowed Minnesota to get some wide open lanes to the basket in the first half, he praised his team for turning up the defensive effort in the second half. He was also pleased with the effort turned in by backup Center Festus Ezeli, who came off the bench after starting Center Andrew Bogut left after only 3 minutes into the game with what the Warriors called “right knee irritation.” Ezeli grabbed 8 rebounds and scored 7 points in 21 minutes.

Golden State was led by both Curry and Thompson, who each scored 21. Shaun Livingston came off the bench and had a nice overall game, scoring 12 points to go with 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. Marreese Speights also chipped in with 12 off the bench, while Draymond Green also had 12 points, while leading the team with 10 rebounds. The Warriors ended up shooting 46% for the game, while holding Minnesota to 36%. No opponent of the Warriors has managed to shoot better than 50% from the floor this season. The T-Wolves were lead by the number one overall pick in this year’s NBA draft, Wiggins, who finished with 21 points. Shabazz Muhammad had 14 off the bench and Young scored 13.

The Warriors will look to extend their winning streak to 14 when they host the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night at Oracle Arena.