SAN FRANCISCO — After lacking two weeks and 5 video games due to a quad damage, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry wanted solely 32 minutes to attain 39 factors in his return Friday night time.
However Curry’s loud, productive reappearance did not set this shaky Warriors’ season again on track. Golden State misplaced 127-120 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have been lacking Anthony Edwards. The Warriors gave up 39 fourth-quarter factors to look at their document tumble to 13-13.
“Our protection allow us to down tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr mentioned.
With out Curry, the Warriors held 4 of their earlier 5 opponents beneath 100 factors and gained three of these video games. They entered Friday night time with the third-best defensive score within the NBA.
However Draymond Inexperienced has been away from the workforce this week due to private causes, and Al Horford stays out due to sciatica, leaving the Warriors weak on the inside. Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle mixed for 51 factors and 23 rebounds for the Timberwolves on Friday.
“Draymond and Al perceive the way to make their affect, make their presence felt,” Curry mentioned. “However we did not have them. We had to determine a strategy to get it completed. We simply did not.”
The Warriors’ greatest downside has been their inefficient offense. They rank twenty second within the NBA in offensive score. They’ve a number of points to unravel, however a recent and out there Curry is a serious enhance.
In his first sport again, Curry scored 10 factors in his first eight-minute stint, trying six fast pictures. The Warriors did not have Curry journey with the workforce throughout its current three-game highway journey, believing a weekend of therapy after which a Wednesday night time scrimmage would jump-start his conditioning for a Friday return.
“He regarded nice,” Kerr mentioned. “Simply the motion, the stream. I requested him how he was feeling after the primary eight-minute run within the first quarter, and he mentioned, ‘I really feel nice.'”
Curry took 28 pictures in 32 minutes, and after the Warriors trailed by double digits within the fourth quarter, he pulled them again with three 3s and 14 fourth-quarter factors.
“Began to really feel regular once more,” Curry mentioned. “So individually, it was a superb first sport again simply to get my lungs again and really feel like myself.”
Nevertheless it wasn’t an important night time for his workforce. A win would’ve pulled the Warriors inside 1½ video games of the Timberwolves on the sixth spot within the West. The loss pushes Golden State to 3½ video games again, lacking one other alternative to generate momentum towards a workforce with out its greatest participant.
