Stephen Curry addressed the issues the Golden State Warriors faced against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
The Golden State Warriors were unable to sustain their momentum and win a third consecutive game on Friday night, falling to the Anthony Edwards-less Timberwolves 127-120 despite 39 points from Stephen Curry on a 50 percent shooting clip from the field.
Perhaps the main reason the Warriors lost on Friday was their ineffectiveness in guarding two-thirds of the Timberwolves' “Big Three.” Julius Randle led the team with 27 points, making 7-of-14 attempts from the field in addition to grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out six assists. Rudy Gobert added 24 points on an uber-efficient 11-of-13 from the field with 14 rebounds.
Following the game, Curry explained why the Warriors had so much trouble with the Randle-Gobert duo without Draymond Green and Al Horford in the lineup, who both inactive due to injury.
“Yeah it’s 51 combined (points),” Curry said. “You know, with Rudy, you can try to keep a body on him and try to take him out of the offense at times. Just because if we do have size, I think he made his presence felt. Obviously (in the) driving lanes, he was getting offensive rebounds, getting those little drop-down passes, everything at the rim.
“Twenty-four and 14, that’s tough to overcome. You know Draymond (Green) and Al (Horford) understand how to make their impact, make their presence felt against him. But we didn't have them, we had to figure out a way to get it done. But we just didn't.”
Good To Be Back
While the Warriors certainly would have liked to walk away with the win, it was undoubtedly a relief to see Curry back on the floor after he missed the last five games with a quad injury suffered against the Houston Rockets on Nov. 26.
After his first game back on Friday, Curry said that he basically felt like his old self throughout the game, even as he was getting his lungs back after the two-plus week absence.
“I felt pretty good to start and then normal, like middle of the game, trying to get your second wind,” Curry said. “And then once you get into the rhythm of the game, things start to feel normal again. Individually, it was a good first game back just to get my lungs back and feel like myself.”
The Warriors are back in action on Sunday, as they’ll travel to Portland for a date with the Trail Blazers with the intention of pulling their record back above .500.