Curry Drops 44, Warriors Escape Minnesota 119-114
Stephen Curry put up 44 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals to carry Golden State past Minnesota 119-114. The single-game story of the night was Curry methodically dismantling a Timberwolves defense that simply had no answer for him in the second quarter.
Minnesota actually looked sharp early. Jaden McDaniels opened the scoring with a driving floater, Ayo Dosunmu knocked down a pair of free throws, and the Wolves pushed out to a 4-0 lead before Golden State blinked. Georges Niang hit a 23-footer to get the Warriors on the board, then Curry and Yaxel Lendeborg rattled off five straight to flip it 7-4. Minnesota kept punching back — Jonathan Kuminga drained a 26-footer to tie it, LaMelo Ball and Dosunmu extended the lead to 11-7, and the Wolves were up 14-9 with just over seven minutes left in the first. It was a genuine back-and-forth quarter, with De'Anthony Melton hitting back-to-back threes to keep Golden State in it. Lendeborg then took over the closing stretch, converting a driving layup and a 24-foot three to push GS ahead 22-17. A late flurry of Brandin Podziemski free throws — he made four in the final minute — and a Draymond Green free throw sent the Warriors into the second quarter up 30-23.
The second quarter is where Curry turned the game into a personal showcase. Minnesota trimmed it to 30-29 on a LaMelo Ball step-back three, but Curry answered immediately with a 24-footer to make it 33-29. He then hit a 26-footer assisted by Green, followed by a 10-foot mid-range — three straight Golden State buckets, all Curry, pushing the lead to 38-31. Kuminga hit a three to keep Minnesota within striking distance at 38-34, but Curry came right back with another 24-footer to make it 41-34. The single biggest moment of the night came at the 6:48 mark of the second quarter, when Curry — assisted by Podziemski — drained a 25-foot three that swung Minnesota's home win probability from 55% to 49%. That seven-point swing was the dagger that shifted the game's center of gravity firmly toward Golden State.
Lendeborg's contribution deserves its own sentence: 26 points and 8 rebounds on the night is a performance that looks like a genuine coming-out moment for the young forward. Minnesota got contributions across the board — Kuminga finished with 20 points and 5 assists, McDaniels added 19 points and 8 rebounds, Terrence Shannon Jr. chipped in 19 points, and Dosunmu was everywhere with 17 points and 4 steals — but the Wolves couldn't manufacture a consistent answer for what Golden State was throwing at them. Six Warriors players were listed as DNP by coach's decision, meaning this 119-114 road win came with a relatively lean rotation. That appears to say something about the gap in talent at the top of Golden State's roster right now, and Curry's 44-point night is the loudest possible argument for that case.