Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) celebrates with guard Mike Conley (10) after scoring against the Golden State Warriors during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
SAN FRANCISCO — Coach Chris Finch just talked to his Minnesota Timberwolves the other day about finding ways to make strides and improve doing the small things even while winning.
Anthony Edwards scored 33 points and the Timberwolves overpowered the Golden State Warriors 116-110 on Sunday night for their sixth straight victory.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 points and a season-best 14 rebounds for Minnesota in the first of two straight games between the teams in San Francisco.
“We’ve got to get better through winning. I thought tonight we left a lot of meat on the bone,” Finch said. “We can play a lot better and that’s not to say we expect to win easily or anything like that. It’s just that when you get outrebounded and you turn it over and you don’t make the easy offensive play, there’s a lot of room for growth right there.”
Stephen Curry scored 38 points, but the cold-shooting Warriors didn’t get enough other contributions to keep up with Minnesota’s fast-paced attack. Golden State shot only 12 for 43 from 3-point range.
Stephen Curry and Anthony Edwards went head-to-head in an intense battle in Golden State 🔥
Anthony Edwards: 33 PTS, 7 AST, 6 REB, W
Stephen Curry: 38 PTS, 5 REB, 5 3PM pic.twitter.com/1F8lQnCeZm
— NBA (@NBA) November 13, 2023
“No question we need some scoring from elsewhere,” coach Steve Kerr said.
Curry has 11 straight games with four or more 3-pointers to start the season, the first time it’s been done in NBA history according to ESPN Stats & Info. His 3 with 5:15 to play pulled the Warriors to 100-89 and forced a Minnesota timeout.
He was 1 for 5 from deep to start the game and 2 of 9 midway through the third, when the Warriors were just 8 of 22 from the field.
“We’ve got to be better,” Golden State’s Draymond Green said. “The NBA is a tough league so it’s a tough matchup every night playing against NBA players. But l like the matchup.”
After Dario Saric’s layup with three seconds left in the first, Curry stole the inbounds pass and scored to beat the buzzer and put the Warriors up 31-29. But the Timberwolves led at halftime, then used a 35-point third quarter to take an 89-73 advantage.
Rudy Gobert had 10 points, 10 rebounds and season-high five blocks as Minnesota won for the seventh time in eight games.
Saric made four of his first five shots on the way to 11 points to go with 10 rebounds and Klay Thompson scored 16 points as the Warriors dropped both in a home back-to-back after losing 118-110 to Cleveland a night earlier. Golden State has a three-game losing streak and four losses in the last five.
“We’ve got to step up,” Green said.
Minnesota won again at Chase Center after a 99-96 victory on March 26 to snap a 12-game losing streak on Golden State’s home floor.
Green added nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists a day after being ejected after pushing Donovan Mitchell earned him a second technical.
Double-technicals were issued to Naz Reid and Jonathan Kuminga late in the first.
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The teams will meet again Tuesday night at Chase Center for an In-Season Tournament game.
“It is a different feeling in a regular-season game, to be able to go over the tape and play the same team, and be able to make some adjustments,” Kerr said. “It is more playoff-like.”