Warriors Beat Timberwolves Thanks to Huge 4th Quarter

November 24, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Alexey Shved (1) drives to the basket against Golden State Warriors point guard Charles Jenkins (22) during the second quarter at ORACLE Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

In the beginning of this game, the score was 8-6 Warriors, with six minutes left in the first. Yes it was that low scoring.

Tonight, the Warriors beat the Timberwolves 95-86 behind big nights from their youngsters Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, and Klay Thompson. At first, many worried because Kevin Love, despite his injured hand, was off to a quick start, rebounding and scoring in the paint.

As the Wolves continued to attack the basket, the gap that Andrew Bogut left in the paint became very obvious. David Lee, only at 6’9″, can’t quite make up for the height that Bogut provides when he is on the court.

The refs, of course, didn’t officiate in favor of the Warriors, mainly because they don’t have a superstar. Many phantom fouls on the Warriors were called. Other plays with no contact, such as JJ Barea slipping, were called fouls. Fans were losing their minds. While this is all pretty bad, it gets worse. The Warriors had ten turnovers in the first half, which was very helpful to the Wolves, who continued to get breakaway dunks.

Klay Thompson was off to another hot start with eight out of the Warriors first 14 points. The Wolves, despite their 29% shooting, ended the quarter on a 12-4 run, and took the lead 18-16 heading into the second. Thompson and Curry were both blazing hot, Curry from the perimeter and Thompson from.. everywhere else. The Warriors, after being down by 11, rallied back to tie the game 35-35. This was despite terrible officiating and reckless ball-handling. The real energizer in the second quarter was Harrison Barnes’ dunk of the year on Pekovic. Words cannot describe how badly Pekovic was Youtubed.

At the half, Curry had 14, and Thompson had 16. The Warriors, however, found themselves down 51-47.

The dreaded third quarter, right? For the first yes minutes, yes. Then, the Warriors went on a little run, and it was a grudge match. With two minutes left in the quarter, the game was tied 62-62. The Warriors even pushed ahead for a while, but entered the final quarter down 74-70.

At the beginning of the 4th, I expected Kevin Love to completely take over, but instead, it was the hard work of Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes, that sparked a 11-2 run. This put the Warriors up 83-79. From then on, it was all Warriors. With clever passing, making free throws, and good defense, the Warriors were able to pull away with a win.

The Warriors’ leading scorer was Klay Thompson with 23 points.They will have four days and will return to the court next Thursday.