The Associated Press
Jon Krawczynski
MINNEAPOLIS—The San Antonio Spurs have given the rest of the NBA a defensive blueprint for beating the Golden State Warriors.
If the defensively challenged Minnesota Timberwolves can nearly pull it off, the defending champions should expect to see it a lot more down the stretch as they chase history.
Draymond Green had 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists to help the Warriors narrowly avoid their first two-game skid in nearly a year with a 109-104 victory over the Timberwolves last night.
Klay Thompson scored 17 points and hit all five of his 3-pointers, and the Warriors (63-7) overcame a second straight poor shooting night from Stephen Curry. The reigning MVP missed 11 of his 17 shots, including seven of his nine 3-pointers, but still had 19 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.
After the Spurs aggressively switched on every screen and held Golden State to 79 points in a victory on Saturday, the Timberwolves employed the same strategy and nearly pulled off an upset.
“We got the win, and it proves we can win ugly, or if we have to win by a large margin we can,” said Thompson, who went 0 for 9 on 2-point shots.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Ricky Rubio added 20 points, 11 assists and four rebounds for the Timberwolves (22-48), who gave the Warriors all they could handle.
The last time the Warriors lost two in a row in the regular season was April 5 and 7, when they were starting to turn their eyes to the playoffs.
In other NBA action yesterday, the Hornets stung the Spurs 91-88; the Cavaliers ran down the Nuggets 124-91; the Wizards enchanted the Hawks 117-102; the Bulls gored the Kings 109-102; the Pacers outpaced the 76ers 91-75; the Celtics jigged all over the Magic 107-96; the Grizzlies eclipsed the Suns 103-97; and the Pistons clipped the Bucks 92-91.
