Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jordan McDaniels (left) grabs some of Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson’s jersey (right) in the first quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Tue Nov 14, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Minnesota Timberwolves (8-2) beat the Golden State Warriors (6-6) 104-101 in the second game of their two-game series. Warrior guard Stephen Curry was out for this game with a knee strain and to make matters worse, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were ejected less than two minutes into the game.

The Warriors took on the Timberwolves for a second time in as many nights. After losing the first meeting 116-110 on Sunday the Warriors couldn’t even the score Tuesday night. The Warriors were without Curry who was out with a reported knee strain. The injury isn’t expected to sideline him for very long which is great news. It didn’t fuel the rest of the team in their now fourth straight loss. They couldn’t pick up the slack; they really missed Curry who was out of the line up.

Game recap: This first quarter was a crazy one with three ejections in less than two minutes. The first incident occurred when Thompson and Jaden McDaniels were both ejected after getting into a fight to start this in-season tournament game.

Seconds later Green was ejected for putting Rudy Gobert in a headlock. The Warriors were now down three of their starters, and losing two additional players for this game was not the way Golden State envisioned their start. The rest of the team had a nice start to the game winning the first quarter 30-22 really picking up the slack. They had a terrific opening quarter.

The second quarter was a close one going to the Timberwolves 32-29. Despite losing the quarter the Warrior continued to hang onto the lead 59-54.

A very close third quarter went to Golden State 24-22 and a 83-76 lead going into the fourth quarter. It was crunch time. Minnesota cut the Warriors lead and actually took the lead mid-way through the quarter.

The remainder of the game was either a tie or a one to two point swing. With 51 ticks left on the game clock Minnesota had a one-point lead 99-98. The Timberwolves Mike Conley nailed the coffin shut when he hit a shot from downtown with 9.1 seconds left in the game giving Minnesota the lead and the game. The Timberwolves continue to be one of the hottest teams in the NBA.

The Warriors got some amazing things from Dario Saric with 21 points and Chris Paul with 15. Top dog in this game was Brandin Podziemski with 23 points a career high for him. Kevon Looney had 12 rebounds.

This was a wild game for Golden State being so short-handed and competing so hard and just coming up short. Golden State responded so beautifully after the way this game started, picking up the pieces and almost winning this game. The high for Minnesota was Karl Anthony-Towns with 33 points and 11 rebounds and Gobert chipping in 13 rebounds of his own.

There will be little rest for the Warriors taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday night. That game is scheduled for 7:00 PM.