Curry's return not enough in loss to T-Wolves

SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry made his triumphant return to the Golden State Warriors lineup.

Curry scored 39 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, in his first game since suffering a thigh contusion against the Houston Rockets, however it was not good enough to give the Dubs a win. Dante DiVincenzo's three-pointer with 28.3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter sealed the 127-120 victory for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday evening at Chase Center.

Golden State (13-13) head coach Steve Kerr deployed a starting lineup of Curry, Jimmy Butler, Pat Spencer, Quentin Post and Buddy Hield. Draymond Green and Al Horford weren't available to play. Horford is still dealing with a nagging injury, while Green was excused for personal reasons as he had not the practiced in the previous two days.

It was also the first appearance at home for forward De'Anthony Melton who made his season debut for the Warriors on their recent three-game road trip against the Philadelphia 76ers. Melton, in his second stint with the Bay's team, finished with nine points on 2 of 6 shooting from the floor while going 5 of 6 from the free throw line. Melton felt grateful to have a second chance with Golden State after he played just six games with them last season after suffering a season-ending ACL injury.

"It's almost like a rebirth," Melton iterated. "At the same time it's a continuation because I wasn't around here at this time of the season last year. It feels good, but we gotta keep stacking days, keep stacking wins. Ultimately, at this point it's about wins and losses. My body is going to be what it is and I can take it day-by-day. I also care about the final result which is getting wins."

Minnesota's (16-9) squad was also depleted playing without superstar Anthony Edwards and veteran guard Mike Conley. Jayden McDaniels and DiVincenzo filled in for them to start the game for head coach Chris Finch.

The game went back and forth with mini runs by each team. There were 11 lead changes in the first quarter alone with Curry's 10 points that led the Warriors and Julius Randle with nine that led the Timberwolves. Golden State had a slim 63-61 lead after the first 24 minutes were completed. Overall, the contest featured 27 lead changes, tied for the second-most in an NBA game this season.

The third quarter was a mirror image of the first quarter except the Warriors had 28 points to the T-wolves 27 as the highest lead each time had during that stretch was no bigger than six points.

The difference of the game was the fourth quarter as Golden State was ice cold from the floor shooting to start the final 12 minutes. On the flip side they had trouble containing Minnesota center Rudy Gobert who finished 11 of 13 from the field with 24 points with the majority of them being two-handed dunks as the T-Wolves exploited the undersized Warriors defense. Randel led the T-Wolves with 27 points.

Minnesota had their biggest lead of the game,12 points, with 5:48 left in the game when they went on 17-0 run and had outscored Golden State 20-5 at that point in the quarter. A combination of poor shooting from beyond the arc and turnovers fed the T-Wolves transition offense.

It was then that the greatest shooter of all-time decided to take matters into his own hands. Curry scored 11 of the next 15 Warriors points as Golden State went on a 15-4 run. Curry's third three pointer during the run gave the Warriors a 115-114 lead with 2:09 left as they erased the 12-point deficit in just under three minutes. When asked if he decided to take matters in his own hands after the timeout with 5:48 remaining with the team looking anemic, Curry, who finished 14 of 28 from the floor including 6 of 15 from beyond the arc, said he liked being aggressive in that situation.

"You want to be aggressive," said Curry. "You have internal conversations, what we scored like five points with seven minutes or something like that in the fourth (quarter). And then you shoot the shots you think you can make. We got the ball moving in transition a little bit more which helps. You're not playing against a set defense. It just wasn't enough obviously. There was a lot of good out there tonight, but obviously not enough to win"

However, Post failed to deliver on a wide open three pointer, where he had plenty of time to think about before shooting it, with the Warriors down a point with 1:02 left in the game. After a two made free throws by Naz Reid, DiVincenzo delivered the dagger three to give Minnesota a five-point lead that iced the game for the visiting team.

Kerr said he was disappointed with his defense on the night and said they can't let DiVincenzo get a wide-open look with the game on the line.

“I thought our defense let us down tonight," said Kerr. "We had several plays in transition, in both halves, where we lost sight of Naz Reid, and a couple other shooters. I just thought our transition defense was poor. There was one, it was 96-91 I think and he got a three. We were in position to handle that and there seemed to be some confusion. So, transition defense wasn't great. Then the first part of the fourth quarter I think they were like 20 to five with their run and we just couldn't get anything going. That stretch hurt us. Our guys were amazing with the comeback and gave ourselves a chance. Then again, we let Donte (DiVincenzo) get free, up three. We got to play better defense tonight.”

What was curious was the DNPs of Jonathan Kuminga and Seth Curry. Kuminga's athleticism would've helped guarding the likes of Randle, Reid and even Gobert. Curry's three-point shooting was much needed especially in the beginning of the fourth quarter when the Warriors couldn't buy a basket. When asked why Seth never got into the game, Kerr responded that Steph's brother wasn't a part of the rotation despite being healthy.

"Well it's tough. We played 12 people, maybe 11. You know it's not easy to just throw guys in there randomly after they haven't been in the rotation in the first three quarters. So...this was not his night, and we went in a different direction."

GAME NOTES: The Warriors fell to 7-4 at home on the season. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Warriors vs. the Timberwolves. Golden State has lost five of the last six at home vs. Minnesota… It was the Warriors’ 13th clutch game of the season (score within five points with five minutes or less in the game) and the sixth-such contest in the last seven games. Golden State deployed the team’s 14th unique starting lineup and eighth unique in as many games. The Warriors fell to 6-2 on the season when scoring 120-plus points. The Warriors recorded 13 turnovers to the Timberwolves’ 11… Golden State is now 3-10 this season when recording more turnovers than its opponent (10-3 when same or fewer). Tonight marked the Warriors’ 576th consecutive sellout, the longest streak in franchise history and the second-longest active streak in the NBA.

The Warriors take on the Portland Trailblazers on Sunday December 14th at 6:00pm at Moda Center.