Second-Half Separation: Three Lessons From the Warriors Win Over Minnesota
After losing two straight games to the Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks, Golden State continued its four-game road trip and took its traveling bags to Minnesota. This game, which was originally scheduled for January 24th, featured a battle of two of the league’s most exciting stars. The young Anthony Edwards is no longer coming, because he has already arrived. The 24-year-old phenom sits fifth in scoring across the league and will soon add his fourth All-Star appearance in just the sixth year of his career. Tonight, he went up against the greatest shooter of all time, Stephen Curry, who came off a dazzling 38-point performance against the Mavericks. Here are three of my personal takeaways from a relatively low-scoring affair.
Warriors Contained the Main Threat’s Damage
The Warriors did an excellent job in dealing with a team like the Timberwolves. They sacrificed letting Edwards take his shots, which resulted in him finishing with a game-high 32 points. However, Golden State allowed just two other double-digit scorers, and no one else to cross the five-point mark. Oftentimes, the way to beat a star-reliant team is not necessarily focus on limiting the top player but to clamp down on everyone else. That’s what the Warriors did tonight, and the Timberwolves scored just 53 points outside of Edwards.
The ‘Third-Quarter Warriors’ Took Over Yet Again
Having watched this team over some years under Coach Steve Kerr, I’m never too amazed by how this team opens up games after halftime. This ingredient made Golden State’s recipe so successful over the last decade, bringing them four NBA titles. Minnesota got a glimpse of what has made the Warriors so great, as they saw a flurry of 38 points head straight towards them. In a 38-17 quarter, the Warriors took a one-point game and blew it open, without ever looking back. Brandin Podziemski kicked things off with a personal 6-0 run to start the third frame, and the rest of the Warriors' guards followed behind him. Whatever Kerr told his group in the locker room seemed to work well, because the Warriors came out focused on defense and consistently accurate on offense.
Active Hands Led to a Major Advantage
Golden State recorded 31 assists on 40 made field goals, showing once more that this group has built some good chemistry at this stage of the season. As I’ve made a point previously, the Warriors don’t have the ability to constantly win 1v1s, at least outside of Curry. So, they must win by playing team basketball, which may sound obvious, but that insinuates a high level of ball movement and coordination. On the other side of the ball, the ‘Dubs’ recorded a whopping 20 steals today, with Curry and Podziemski each recording a game-high four apiece. This translated to nearly double the points off turnovers for the visiting team, who took better care of the ball and only gave up six steals. Kerr’s team probably can’t sustain such numbers, but they showed an effort that directly correlated to a full stat sheet.
