SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors have spent the first section of the season wandering through a congested schedule packed with back-to-backs and travel days.
So taking on the Timberwolves with four days of rest buffering the Friday night matchup at Chase Center with Golden State’s Sunday victory in Chicago? That was unfamiliar territory.
In the teams’ first game against one another since Minnesota eliminated the Warriors in five games in the second round of the 2025 playoffs, Golden State fell 127-120.
Steph Curry returned to the lineup after missing the previous five games with a left quad injury, starting next to Pat Spencer for the first time. Meanwhile, Wolves superstar Anthony Edwards was out with foot soreness and the Warriors lacked Al Horford and Draymond Green.
Keyed by some late-game stops, the Wolves withstood Steph Curry’s brilliant shot-making and pulled away from Golden State in the final minutes.
Steph Curry led all scorers with 39 points in his return, while Quinten Post took advantage of drop defense to score 16. Julius Randle led the Wolves with 27 points. Rudy Gobert scored 24 and grabbed 14 rebounds while repeatedly dunking on whichever Warrior happened to be in the paint.
Defense was in short supply early. The Warriors led 63-61 at halftime as Curry put in 16 and Spencer put up nine points, four rebounds and four assists.
Just like in the postseason, the Wolves’ frontcourt of Randle, Gobert, Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniel pounded the Warriors. Those four combined for 84 points as the Wolves briefly took a third quarter lead.
However, the Warriors, aided by two timely Moses Moody buckets in the third, battled back to retake the lead, 91-88, by the end of the third. But the Wolves’ size advantage — Rob Dillingham was the only Minnesota player under 6-5 — helped the Timberwolves build a double-digit lead midway through the third.
Then Steph Curry happened, unleashing a flurry that helped the Warriors take a 115-114 lead with a little over two minutes remaining. It was not enough to secure the victory, though. The Wolves did not blink, and former Warrior Donte DiVincenzo drove the 3-point dagger into the Warriros with 27 seconds left to give Minnesota a five-point lead.
The Warriors (13-13) will travel to Portland on Sunday.
Other guard combos
The Warriors entered Friday night with eight healthy guards on the roster, and coach Steve Kerr found a way to play six of them – the two exceptions being prior rookie starter Will Richard and veteran Seth Curry.
Aside from the aforementioned Curry-Spencer duo, Kerr appeared to favor playing Brandin Podziemski with De’Anthony Melton, giving Podziemski a capable ballhandler to play off during the second and third quarters. .
Podziemski also spent time playing next to Spencer and Curry in the second quarter.
Payton II – more of a forward than a guard – also found time next to the more offensively gifted Buddy Hield in the second quarter.
Buddy Hield was the backcourt player who tended to float between the different units, as his strength and quick hands allowed him to be a credible option to defend the Wolves’ forwards.
Jonathan Kuminga does not play
Jonathan Kuminga appears to be totally out of the Warriors’ rotation, with the fifth-year forward receiving his second healthy scratch in a row.
The Warriors sent out 10 different players in the first quarter, and Kuminga’s status was set in stone in the second quarter, when Gui Santos checked in with about eight minutes left in the second quarter.
Both Kerr and Kuminga have assured anyone who will listen that the two have a good relationship, but it is becoming increasingly clear that Kuminga is not in the team’s future – or present – plans.
Kuminga can be traded on Jan. 15 at the earliest.
Green, Horford update
Neither of the Warriors’ most experienced bigs were active against the Wolves. Draymond Green was away from the team for an excused person reason.
Kerr told press before the game that Green will travel with the team for Sunday’s game at Portland. Meanwhile, Al Horford was ruled out with sciatica, and the coach said he had no further update on Horford’s status.
Horford has played one game since Nov. 21, which was last week’s matchup in Philadelphia where he shot 1 of 8.
What Warriors learned from playoffs
While preparing for the 2025-26 season, Steve Kerr pondered lineup combinations, tactics and the team’s quest for a fifth title. Mulling over the team’s five-game loss to the Wolves in the second round of the playoffs?
Not high on his list of priorities.
“I don’t spend too much time on it, honestly,” Kerr said.
However, that doesn’t mean the team didn’t learn a thing or two from the defeat.
“The playoffs always expose the details,” Kerr said, noting that Quinten Post’s defense and Moses Moody’s pick-and-roll skills were exposed as weak spots.
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