
The Golden State Warriors were playing with house money on the second night of a back-to-back after snatching a dominant win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, 111-85, on Sunday afternoon.
However, even the biggest Warriors doubters might be surprised to take a look at the injury report for Monday's game. A grand total of eight players ended up listed as out prior to tipoff, leaving just 10 healthy bodies for Steve Kerr to turn to. That included Steph Curry, Draymond Green, De'Anthony Melton, Al Horford, and, of course, Jimmy Butler — essentially every single one of their veteran players.
The outcome of the game reflected just how depleted the Warriors were, as they got a taste of their own medicine just 24 hours later. Even with Anthony Edwards out for the Timberwolves, the Warriors were still thoroughly thrashed, 108-83.
Dub Nation probably expected the Warriors to play poorly on the second night of a back-to-back, missing so many key players, but few likely expected such a horrid outcome.
The Warriors' 83 points were by far their lowest of the season. Prior to this game, their lowest total was just 94, in a game similar to this with multiple key inactives against the Thunder. In fact, 83 points is the lowest total the Warriors have posted since November 21, 2022, when they scored 83 points in a loss to the Pelicans. You would have to go back to January 5, 2022, to find a game where the Warriors scored less than 83 points.
Their shooting splits of 34.7% from the field and 23.1% from beyond the arc were also season lows, while 18 turnovers leading to 23 Timberwolves points were unhelpful, to say the least.
Out of all 10 players that played, none of them shot over 50% from the field on the night. Although five players did reach double figures — Quinten Post, Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos, Moses Moody, and Pat Spencer — it was all low-teens scoring, and Post's 13 points ended up being the team-high.
Their defense wasn't even the worst, either. They managed to force 22 turnovers, making for 48 turnovers forced between the two games, but only managed to score 19 points off of them, and otherwise did a relatively subpar job at stifling the Timberwolves' offense.
Overall, it was a game to forget for the Warriors, let alone a weekend to forget, considering all of the external circumstances raging in Minnesota.
They'll head to Utah to face off against the Jazz on Wednesday, with most of their players likely to be healthy for that one, before going back home for a daunting trial against the Detroit Pistons on Friday.