OAKLAND, Calif. _ November isn't April as NBA seasons go and the Minnesota Timberwolves' 115-102 loss Saturday night at Golden State wasn't anything like the last time they visited Oracle Arena.
That was way back in last season's final days, when the Warriors aimed themselves at their historic pursuit of the NBA's all-time best regular-season record and the Wolves came to town playing free and easy, with little to lose.
They walked away winners 124-117 in overtime after Shabazz Muhammad scored a career-high 35 points that night. On Saturday, however, they trailed by 15 points in the fourth quarter before they pulled within as few as eight points but no closer with three minutes left.
They did so with young point guard Tyus Jones _ called upon for the first time all night late in the third quarter_finishing off the game for the second consecutive night, as he did in a winning leading-man performance Friday at Phoenix.
They also did so against a Warriors team that won 73 regular-season games last year and yet remade itself by signing free-agent superstar Kevin Durant last summer after they failed to turn those record victories into a championship during an NBA Finals loss to Cleveland.
The Wolves took their first look at a Warriors team that now has four stars, but one of them _ injured forward Draymond Green _ was missing Saturday when the Warriors won their 11th consecutive victory and improved to 15-2 overall.
Stephen Curry scored 34 points, including the three-point dagger with 2:27 left that regained a 13-point lead. Durant scored 28 and Klay Thompson had 23.
The Warriors now have had double-digit winning streaks for four consecutive seasons. That's only the ninth time in NBA history that has been done.
The Wolves never pulled closer than those eight points in the final quarter on a night when Andrew Wiggins followed Zach LaVine's in-your-face dunk over Phoenix big man Alex Len on Friday by doing the same almost as spectacularly over big JaVale McGee in the third quarter.
Neither moment probably impressed Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau, who said before Saturday's game that he hopes his team can focused on the "things that go into winning and get away from the sideshows."
LaVine led the Wolves in scoring with 31 points in the same arena where he first set his career scoring high of 37 points, late in his rookie season two years ago.
The Wolves led 36-30 early in the second quarter and still lead by a point in the final three minutes before halftime. But as they've done often this season _ including dramatically Wednesday at New Orleans and a little less so Friday at Phoenix _ the Wolves on Saturday failed to finish out a half and then they were outscored in a third quarter once again, this time 34-25.
They surrendered the second quarter's final seven points, including Durant's long 3-pointer at the buzzer that quickly helped turn a one-point lead with 93 seconds left into a 56-48 halftime lead.
The Warriors played Saturday without Green and guard Ian Clark, each of whom was injured on the same play in Friday's victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles.
Green and Clark collided late in the third quarter of a 109-85 victory. Clark went down holding his head and missed Saturday's game because of what the team called a throat injury.
"It was pretty scary what happened to him," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game.
Green, meanwhile, reached for his ankle and after the game said he intended to play the next night against the Wolves, but common sense prevailed.
"It didn't make sense to play him," Kerr said.
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