The Golden State Warriors (2-3) survived a furious Timberwolves comeback, winning 119-114 on Wednesday at Target Center.
Stephen Curry had a game-high 44 points, including 16 free throws. Yaxel Lendeborg had his third straight game with 25-plus points, finishing with 26 points and nine rebounds.
Jonathan Kuminga had a team-high 20 points for the Wolves (3-2).
Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s game.
Warriors Need Crunch-Time Offense Tweak
The Warriors almost threw another game away on Wednesday.
At one point in the third quarter, the Dubs led by 24. The Timberwolves kept chipping away, but the Warriors appeared to have the game settled down after a Lendeborg dunk put them up 11 with 2:11 to go.
These were the results of their next four possessions:
– Curry misses wild layup attempt; Green offensive rebound; Lendeborg missed wild jumper as shot clock is about to expire
– Melton nearly turns it over, but gets it to Lendeborg, who is fouled and makes one of two FTs; Melton gets offensive rebound; Curry misses heavily contested three; Warriors get offensive rebound; Curry misses heavily contest layup
– Curry turns it over at half-court line (doesn’t see defender doubling him)
– Green turns it over after getting a rebound
Scoring one point in those four possessions almost cost them the game, but fortunately for them, Jaden McDaniels missed two wide-open three-pointers, either of which would’ve cut it to one.
The Green turnover was pretty fluky, so there’s no need to over-analyze it. The other possessions, though, had a similar theme, which was ball-handling issues.
On the first possession, Curry and Lendeborg couldn’t get past their defenders in one-on-one situations, leading to wild shots.
On the next possession, Steve Kerr called for Lendeborg to set a screen for Melton, but that attracted a double-team that nearly led to a turnover.
On the third possession, Curry has to do a better job of anticipating a trap, but you have to wonder if the better play is to simply get Brandon Williams on the court. Of course you want the ball in Curry’s hands because of his free-throw shooting ability, but from the standpoint of ball security, Williams’ speed and handle makes him a great candidate to bring the ball up the court.
There’s no obvious solution to their clutch-time offensive woes. They’ve had Curry on the ball and off the ball against Memphis and Minnesota, and in both situations they’ve had near-turnovers and extremely difficult attempts late in the shot clock.
This time, I won’t try to suggest what they should do. But it’s clear they gotta do something different.
Lendeborg’s Ball-Handling Will Be One of His Swing Skills
Lendeborg had a career-high seven turnovers on Wednesday, and a couple of them were simply mis-dribbles against ball pressure.
It’s not shocking that a 6’9″ player who didn’t handle the ball a ton in college would struggle with NBA defenders. But after Lendeborg took the Nuggets to the cleaners, it was a reality check that he’s not already an upper-echelon ball-handler.
And that’s OK. It’s not like he’s a bust if he doesn’t consistently take high-level defenders like Jonathan Kuminga off the dribble. And after all, he still had 26 points in this game with a couple of ball-handling highlights:
Still, for Lendeborg to hit his ceiling, he has to handle the ball better.
After the game, Lendeborg said he played “soft” and “wasn’t decisive.” We’ll see if he corrects what went wrong for Friday’s game against the Lakers.
Kuminga’s Arrow Is Pointing Up
Kuminga came into Wednesday’s game with a cumulative plus/minus of plus-62, bolstered by an excellent defensive net rating.
He continued to play solid defense against the Warriors. His most notable rep was locking Lendeborg up late in the game, leading to a wild miss.
But he stood out just as much on the offensive end.
Kuminga had 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting and 3-of-6 from three. He also had five assists and no turnovers.
There were a couple of times when he had the ball on the perimeter and could have forced a tough shot against a set defense, but instead he passed it to keep the Wolves in flow.
His defense alone makes him a valuable commodity. But if he can play offense just like he did Wednesday all the time, the Wolves will have a steal on his $6.1 million salary for 2026-27.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
