OAKLAND, Calif. _ The Warriors' 12th straight late-season win was delivered with a similar blueprint to many of their first 50 victories from earlier this season: Toy around in the first couple quarters _ keeping an inferior team close _ then blast off in the third quarter and cruise to the finish line.
Tuesday night's final: Warriors 121, Timberwolves 107, with a bulk of that cushion coming in a 36-26 third quarter.
Klay Thompson was the night's high scorer, needing only 24 shots for his 41 points, snipering away from the outside while also aggressively attacking the rim. But Thompson didn't own the separation stretch. Stephen Curry did.
In that runaway third quarter, Curry delivered the memorable highlights. After a rough first half _ when Curry missed eight of his 10 shots _ he got himself going offensively with the rarest of sights. Curry jumped a passing lane with 8:14 left in the third quarter, poking an Andrew Wiggins pass into a one-man fastbreak.
As Curry secured the steal, he gazed behind him, didn't see a defender and loaded up for only his third dunk this season and first at home. Oracle went crazy.
Curry followed that up with a pair of deep 3s _ two of only three he made the entire night _ then capped a 24-9 run with one of his most eye-popping passes of the season, putting the Warriors up 21 late in the third. Curry pushed a 3-on-2 fastbreak into the frontcourt and veered left, eyeing a fading Thompson in the corner as a backpedalling Ricky Rubio shaded that direction.
When he reached the elbow, Curry changed hands with the dribble in mid-air quickly, before bouncing it one more time and slinging an out of nowhere behind-the-back left-handed seed to Andre Iguodala for the layup. Upon replay review, the move was clearly a double-dribble violation, which should've been called by the referees. But the strangeness of it in real-time caught the officials, the crowd and the Timberwolves off-guard.
In total, the Warriors outscored the Wolves by 10 in the third quarter, a common occurrence this season. Including Tuesday night, the Warriors have now outscored teams by a combined 446 points in third quarters this season. The Spurs are the next deadliest third quarter team, outscoring opponents by 236. No other NBA team besides the Rockets (plus-190) is even over 100.
Curry's high-points were spectacular _ like a poke-away steal in the second quarter, which he saved inbound with another lefty behind-the-back pass _ but his overall night was average. He finished with 19 points, nine assists and three turnovers, failing to connect a couple times on those ambitious behind-the-back attempts.
Thompson was the steadiest offensive force. His 41 points were the most he's scored in a game since he dropped that 60-piece in three quarters on the Pacers back in early December. Thompson made 13 of his 24 shots, eight of his nine free throws and seven of his 14 3-pointers. During this 12-game win streak, Thompson is a scorching 58-of-119 from 3, hovering at 49 percent.
The Warriors' ferocious defensive effort has been a major part of this recent string of wins, but it's taken a minor step back the past eight quarters. After giving up a decent offensive night to the Wizards on Sunday, the Warriors gave up 60 points on 47 percent shooting to the lottery-bound Wolves in Tuesday's first half.
Karl-Anthony Towns roasted their interior early in the game, while the Warriors regularly delivered soft fouls and the Wolves glided in for numerous and-1 layups. But Golden State cranked it up enough in the second half on the defensive end to runaway from the Wolves. Minnesota finished at 42.7 percent shooting and scored only 47 points in the second half.
That helped bring the Warriors a season-high tying 12th straight win, drawing them one step closer to securing that top seed, needing only a combination of two wins or Spurs losses in the final week-plus to get homecourt throughout the playoffs.
_The Warriors will rest Draymond Green and Iguodala in Phoenix on Wednesday night, allowing their high-usage forwards a game off on the second night of a late-season back-to-back. Kevin Durant also will not play, but Steve Kerr said the injured forward is on track to play Saturday if the final stages of his left knee rehab go well over the next few days.
_A few days back, the Warriors looked all but locked into a 1-8 first round matchup with the Blazers. But Portland has dropped two in a row, while the Nuggets have won a couple. Now Denver is tied with Portland in the loss column and only a half-game back overall. Portland does hold the tiebreaker.
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