Timberwolves-Warriors Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Mar 18 2012 10:56PM

The Minnesota Timberwolves are showing frustration during a three-game slide that is costing them ground in the Western Conference playoff race.

The visiting Timberwolves have dropped six of their last seven meetings with the Golden State Warriors heading into these teams' first matchup of the season Monday night.

Minnesota (22-24) has lost five of six as it tries to avoid its second four-game slide of the season. The Timberwolves are enduring a 1-4 stretch since losing rookie point guard Ricky Rubio for the season to knee surgery.

Sunday's 115-99 loss at Sacramento dropped Minnesota to 1-3 on this seven-game trip and featured a brief shouting match on the bench late in the game between Timberwolves star Kevin Love and reserve guard Jose Barea.

"It's frustrating, but nothing personal against JJ," Love said. "I think we were both frustrated and took it out on each other when we should have took it out on the other team. So both of us made mistakes and both of us feel bad."

The Timberwolves committed 21 turnovers that led to 32 points for the last-place Kings.

"Everything we started off at the beginning of the season trying to avoid we did tonight," coach Rick Adelman said. "I don't know how many second-chance points they had, but they continued to beat us to the rim. Their season has been tough and we talked about that before the game. If you let them get going in their own building they will be tough."

Love had 21 points and 11 boards for his league-leading 38th double-double and third in a row. He didn't get much help from Darko Milicic, who had two points and no rebounds in just six first-quarter minutes before Adelman benched the Serbian big man the rest of the way.

The coach started Milicic at center in place of Nikola Pekovic, who is bothered by a sore left ankle. Pekovic averaged 22.0 points on 55.4 percent shooting and an average of 10.6 rebounds over Minnesota's previous five games.

While Golden State (18-24) has traditionally been a tough matchup for Minnesota, it could be different after the Warriors dealt leading scorer Monta Ellis to Milwaukee on Wednesday. Ellis averaged 22.3 points against the Wolves over the previous two seasons.

The new-look Warriors have lost three straight, falling 99-92 in overtime at Utah on Saturday. They allowed a tying three-point play by the Jazz's Derrick Favors late in regulation.

"The frustrating thing is that we had the opportunity to close out the game. We needed one stop and we couldn't get it done. It's disappointing," coach Mark Jackson said.

Richard Jefferson had nine points on 2-of-14 shooting in his Warriors debut after being acquired Thursday from San Antonio.

"There were some shots that I could have knocked down, but you win as a team and you lose as a team," Jefferson said.

Golden State could again be without Stephen Curry, who did not dress for the fourth straight game because of a sprained right ankle that has plagued him all season. Curry averages 14.7 points and 5.3 assists.

Timberwolves beat Warriors to end 3-game slide

Posted Mar 20 2012 8:39PM

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Kevin Love is having an outstanding individual season, but getting the Minnesota Timberwolves into the playoffs for the first time in eight years would be an even sweeter accomplishment for team's veteran forward.

Love banked in a 16-foot jumper with 4 minutes left, then added an insurance tip-in off a miss by J.J. Barea to help Minnesota keep its dimming postseason hopes alive with a 97-93 win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.

"Down the stretch is where we won the game," said Love, who finished with 36 points and 17 rebounds for his 39th double-double of the season. "We executed, got big stops and made plays."

Luke Ridnour added 11 points and 10 assists, while Anthony Tolliver scored 10 points off the bench, all in the fourth quarter for the Timberwolves.

Minnesota (23-24) snapped a three-game losing streak with the win and moved within 1 1/2 games of Houston for the eighth spot in the Western Conference.

The Timberwolves haven't been in the playoffs since going in as the top seed in the West in 2003-04. They've had only one winning season in the last seven years and had dropped five of six before holding off Golden State.

"They made their runs at us in the third and fourth quarter and we responded," Minnesota coach Rick Adelman said. "We've been kind of folding in that point and we just kept talking about getting stops and (executing) at the other end."

Love finished three rebounds shy of his seventh career 30-point, 20-rebound game, which would have been a franchise record.

Minnesota needed all of them to hold off a pesky Golden State team which is winless in four games since trading leading scorer Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks last week.

"When we have Kevin Love with 36 and 17, it's really hard to beat us," said Timberwolves forward Derrick Williams, who went 2 of 9 from the floor but had 11 rebounds. "We had to get this one."

David Lee had 25 points and nine rebounds for Golden State, which remained winless since trading leading scorer Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks last week.

The Warriors (18-25) scored just 14 points in the first quarter, but led 85-84 after Nate Robinson's 15-foot jumper with 5:34 left.

Tolliver answered with a 3-pointer before Love banked in his long jumper.

After Lee made one of two free-throw attempts for Golden State, Love tipped in Barea's missed layup. Tolliver later scored on a soaring dunk down the middle to seal the win for the Timberwolves.

It's only the fourth time this season Minnesota has won on the second half of back-to-back games. The Timberwolves were blown out by Sacramento 115-99 on Sunday.

It's also just the fifth time Minnesota has beaten Golden State in the last 18 meetings between the teams.

"The game was lost in the first half," said Lee, who added nine rebounds and three assists. "We didn't come out and play the way we're capable of playing. Our defense kept us from being down 40 points."

Love nearly had his double-double before halftime. He had 12 points in the first quarter when Minnesota built a 21-14 lead, then added a short jumper as part of the Timberwolves 9-0 run to start the second.

Michael Beasley's free throw with 4:30 left in the second quarter pushed Minnesota ahead 39-22 before Golden State made a late push behind Brandon Rush and Lee.

Johnson stop the run with a pair of 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the half while Ridnour added a running 18-footer just before the shot clock expired, helping the Timberwolves take a 49-35 lead into halftime.

Coming off the blowout loss to the Kings 24 hours earlier, Minnesota seemed to wear down quickly after that.

Part of it was due to Klay Thompson, the Golden State rookie who has taken over at shooting guard following the team's trade of Ellis.

The 11th overall player taken in the draft, Thompson scored the first five points of a 9-0 run and then added his second 3-pointer of the quarter to give the Warriors a 62-61 lead. He finished with 17 points.

Lee later drove past a trio of Minnesota defenders and dunked to maintain Golden State's one-point lead before Love scored the final five points of the quarter, including a banked 3-pointer that put the Timberwolves up 71-67 heading into the fourth quarter.

Notes: Golden State G Stephen Curry sat out his fifth straight game because of a sprained right ankle. ... Former Warriors star Chris Mullin's No. 17 jersey was retired and hung from the rafters during a halftime ceremony. Mullin spent 13 of his 16 NBA seasons playing with Golden State and still holds franchise records for games played and steals. The five-time All-Star is the sixth player in franchise history to have his number retired.

Notebook: Timberwolves 97, Warriors 93

Posted Tuesday March 20, 2012 2:36AM

By Geoff Lepper, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Kevin Love posted his league-leading 39th double-double, scoring 36 points and grabbing 17 rebounds as the Minnesota Timberwolves ended a three-game losing streak with a 97-93 win against the Golden State Warriors on Monday.

Luke Ridnour added 11 points and 10 assists and Anthony Tolliver had 10 points -- all in the fourth quarter -- and five rebounds as the Timberwolves recovered to win despite coughing up a 14-point halftime lead.

David Lee scored 25 points and grabbed nine assists to lead the Warriors.

QUOTABLE: "With everything that's been going on, losing three in a row, they made their runs at us in the third quarter and fourth quarter and we responded. It was a terrific win."
-- Minnesota head coach Rick Adelman.

THE STAT: The Timberwolves hadn't used the tandem point-guard look much since Ricky Rubio went down with a season-ending knee injury, but Adelman went with the duo of Ridnour and J.J. Barea for the final 7 minutes and 59 seconds. The pair delivered with a combined six assists in the quarter and sparked a 19-10 run which left Minnesota up 97-88 with 37 seconds remaining.

TURNING POINT: Adelman didn't have a bevy of frontcourt options once center Nikola Pekovic, still troubled by his sprained left ankle, left the floor for good 3 minutes into third quarter. Tolliver, scoreless in four uneventful first-half minutes, stepped into the breach in the fourth period with all 10 of his points, on 4-for-5 shooting, and added four rebounds. Tolliver's 3-pointer with 4:46 remaining gave Minnesota the lead for good.

QUOTABLE II: "We definitely needed to get at least one of two of these games in the Bay Area, and we felt like we let one slip away last night against a team we could have beat. Down the stretch is where we won the game. We executed, got big stops and made big plays."
-- Love.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Halftime ran for almost 40 minutes as the Warriors honored recent Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Chris Mullin by retiring his No. 17 jersey. Mullin joins Wilt Chamberlain (No. 13), Tom Meschery (No. 14), Alvin Attles (No. 16), Rick Barry (No. 24) and Nate Thurmond (No. 42) on the wall of Oracle Arena. The ceremony turned ugly, however, when owner Joe Lacob, was booed multiple times as he tried to wrap things up. The situation grew so bad that Mullin came back to center court and tried to sooth the crowd, to no avail. Barry eventually got on the microphone and chastised fans, saying they were doing a "disservice" to themselves, but that also didn't work. Lacob finally powered through his presentation, but the situation cast a pall on Mullin's celebration.

QUOTABLE III: "Look, fans are upset, I guess, that we traded one of their favorites, and that's all I can attribute that to. What I feel bad about it they kind of ruined a night was pretty special. The organization really tried to do the right thing with Chris, and I feel good that we did that. I feel bad for Chris more than anything else."
-- Lacob.

HOT: Love was simply unstoppable in the second half, when the Warriors went small from the get-go. He had 22 points and eight boards after intermission, completing his eighth game with at least 30 points and 15 rebounds this season. By comparison, the entire rest of the NBA only has six such games all season.

NOT: Golden State opened the game shooting 3-for-16, and though they came all the way back to lead in the third quarter, the fans were booing after just five minutes, perhaps priming the pump for the halftime derision poured on Lacob.

ROOKIE WATCH: Minnesota forward Derrick Williams wasn't as accurate as he might have been (2-for-9 floor), but he grabbed 11 rebounds to help the Timberwolves outboard Golden State, 48-33.

NOTABLE: This was only Minnesota's fourth win in the Timberwolves' last 18 attempts against Golden State. . . . Love, the league-leader in double-doubles, had his 39th of the season. . . . Richard Jefferson, coming off a 2-for-14 performance in his Warriors debut, went 6-for-10 and had 19 points. . . . Klay Thompson and Nate Robinson combined for 30 points but were 11-for-30 from the floor while getting there.

UP NEXT: For the Warriors, Wednesday @ New Orleans, Thursday @ Houston, Saturday vs. Sacramento. For the Timberwolves, Wednesday @ San Antonio, Friday @ Oklahoma City, Sunday vs. Denver.

• Timberwolves: Milicic, Rubio
• Warriors: Bogut, Curry

• Timberwolves: --
• Warriors: --

• Lead Changes: 10
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA
• Officials: #48 Scott Foster, #59 Gary Zielinski, #72 JT Orr
• Attendance: 19596
• Duration: 2:31