MINNEAPOLIS _ The Golden State Warriors had one last gasp to escape Minneapolis with a needed win: Down one with 10 seconds left, the clock ticking and the ball, temporarily, in Steph Curry's hands.
But he fumbled it away, throwing a jagged final possession off kilter. Curry recovered, but the rhythm and design had already been ruined. Curry still had a couple seconds left, but he opted to just get a shot off. Curry faded away and bricked a contested jumper and _ following a rebound scramble and an impossible jump-ball situation _ the loss was official: 103-102 Timberwolves, the Warriors' fourth loss in six games.
And this felt like an important one. Instead of resting his stars in advance of a huge game in San Antonio on Saturday night, Steve Kerr decided to not only play them, but chase down a victory. Curry logged 36 minutes, Klay Thompson played 37 and Draymond Green played 38.
They were down 17 at one point in the first half, looking sluggish in transition and allowing a fired up Wolves team to zip around them and out-tough them in the paint.
But the tenor changed mid-way through the game. The Warriors _ aided by a hot Thompson _ jolted back into the game. Thompson finished with 30 points for the first time since before the All-Star break, nailing multiple big jumpers.
Behind a jolt from Ian Clark _ 10 points in 12 minutes _ the Warriors climbed back within a possession multiple times during the fourth quarter, reaching back in the tank and playing with playoff-like energy.
Finally, with 19 seconds left, they finally retook the lead on a Curry floater. But two Andrew Wiggins free throws followed on the next possession, setting up that final, fatal Curry miss, his 17th brick of the night.
And now a tired, struggling Warriors team is forced to board a plane of San Antonio, set to face a Spurs team that is now only 1.5 games back of the top spot in the West.
