3/21: Golden State Warriors Beat Timberwolves 109-104

The Golden State Warriors outlasted the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night, winning 109-104 before a sellout crowd — the first at the Target Center this season.

“We had a chance to win the game, that’s all I’m thinking about right now,” said interim coach Sam Mitchell. “There are no moral victories in professional sports. We had some opportunities, and I just think we had some lapses in focus at times where we allowed them to get threes in transition.”

Draymond Green led the Warriors with 24 points. Stephen Curry was held to 19 points — 6-of-17 from the field, 2-of-9 from beyond the arc — but led Golden State with 11 assists. Klay Thompson finished with 17 points, going 5-for-14 from the field, but 5-of-5 from beyond the arc.

“We needed everybody tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “We needed the bench. … The starting group just couldn’t lock in [and] focus, and the next group came in and really energized us.”

All six players that came off the bench for Golden State scored. Leandro Barbosa led with nine points, and Shaun Livingston and Marreese Speights had eight.

Andrew Wiggins had a game-high 25 points. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, his 41st double-double of the season. Ricky Rubio also had a double-double, his 13th, finishing with 20 points and 11 assists. Zach LaVine had 19.

“We can take a lot of good notes out of this game,” said Rubio, “but at the same time we know that we’ve got to learn that when we’re playing good, don’t get too excited and keep doing what we’re doing.”

While the starters were productive, the bench only had eight points — four from Shabazz Muhammad and four from Tayshaun Prince. Along with Tyus Jones and Greg Smith, all four bench players that played that night finished in the minus.

Muhammad spoke first, saying he felt good about the team’s performance, even if he wasn’t happy with the result. “We played really well tonight,” he said. “I thought we definitely had them going into the two minute mark, I felt really good about it.”

Rubio felt similarly about the loss. “When you lose, you’re always mad, but I think we did good things tonight,” he said. “We played a really good game, but we made some mistakes that when you’re playing against the best team in the league, they make you pay.”

Towns took the loss hard after coming so close. “I’m just disappointed, I’m just very disappointed,” he said. “I thought we had it today.”

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