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Their latest loss has also pushed their pursuit of a single-season record 73 wins to the brink. Coming four days after Friday's 109-106 loss to the Boston Celtics, Tuesday's 124-117 overtime loss to the lottery-bound Minnesota Timberwolves drops the Warriors to 69-9, forcing them to win all four of their remaining games if they hope to beat the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' mark of 72 wins. Minnesota came back from as many as 18 down to control crunch time, breaking a streak of 114 wins for the Warriors in games where they'd led by at least 15 points at any point. After winning 54 straight at Oracle Arena, the Warriors have now dropped two of three at home.
While the two recent home losses represent something new for Golden State, their problems vs. Minnesota were in line with recent trends. The Warriors committed 24 turnovers (albeit with 35 assists) to give the Wolves regular transition opportunities on their way to 51.2 percent shooting on the night (including 8-of-17 from deep). The Wolves also attacked the basket for 36 free throws, 28 more than the Warriors. It's tempting to blame the officials for that disparity, but this was a reasonably well officiated game. The Warriors just stayed on the perimeter.
That's usually a sound strategy for a team with so many potent outside shooters, but the elite touch was not there for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, who combined to shoot 8-of-25 from deep. It was an especially rough shooting night for Curry, who went 4-of-14 on threes and did not make a field goal in the first half. He still finished with a solid 21 points and 15 assists, but he did not make the game-changing impact that could earn him a unanimous MVP award this spring. Golden State managed to shoot 50 percent from the field, but the offense was nowhere near its peak efficiency.
By contrast, the Wolves found optimal matchups and exploited them. Shabazz Muhammad was particularly impressive, scoring a career-high 35 points on 9-of-12 FG and 15-of-17 FT. Those numbers should give some idea of how he attacked the basket at every opportunity and forced Warriors defenders into sending him to the line.
Andrew Wiggins was similarly efficient, scoring 32 on 11-of-19 FG and 8-of-9 FT. The Warriors saw Andre Iguodala return from an ankle injury that kept him out for 13 games, but he is clearly still working his way to full health and could only help the wing defense so much.
Overtime brought new problems when Draymond Green fouled out with 2:33 remaining, robbing the Warriors of their only decent plan for defending Karl-Anthony Towns. The presumptive Rookie of the Year showed why he's considered a superstar-in-waiting, taking bigger players off the dribble and drawing contact from smaller defenders in the paint. More than anything, though, the Wolves seemed to have more energy and beat the Warriors to the spot throughout the fourth quarter and extra period.
Despite these problems, the loss was an understandable one for the Warriors. For one thing, the Wolves have looked much better than a 25-win team in recent weeks and have drawn more than a few comparisons to the 2008-09 Oklahoma City Thunder, a loaded young team that broke into the playoffs the following season. Minnesota likely saw this contest as an opportunity to get the best win of their season, whereas Golden State considered it a manageable matchup before another big game against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday. Chicago suffered similar issues in April 1996, when they dropped two of their final four home games by a combined two points.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, making so many mistakes has put them in a tough spot to break the Bulls' record. The No. 1 seed is still a very likely finish — they need any combination of two wins and Spurs losses, with a chance to get both on Thursday — but this does not currently look like a team that can beat the 65-win Spurs and a desperate Grizzlies group twice each.
No one could fault the Warriors for going all out to reach the record, but it's now easy to see why Steve Kerr said they're