Warriors visit the Lakers for NBA Cup play after beating Minnesota

Two straight after an 0-3 start

Golden State beat Minnesota 119-114 on Wednesday night in Minneapolis, its second straight win after losing its first three games of the season. Stephen Curry scored 44 points and grabbed eight rebounds. The game was close at the end, but the Warriors had led by 24 points in the second half before the Timberwolves cut into it.

The 44-point night was the 46th time Curry has scored 40 or more since turning 30, which the ESPN report describes as an NBA record. That number is less a comment on this game than on how long he has been doing this, and it sits next to a more immediate fact: the Warriors needed a season-best statistical night to win by five.

The game plan was to move Gobert

Golden State's coaching staff wanted Rudy Gobert out of the paint, so the team ran high screen action with Curry in the first half to drag the center into space. The approach showed up in the shot chart: Curry took six shots in the first seven minutes, then ten more in the second quarter.

That volume was the point. Two nights earlier, Denver sold out to stop Curry and he attempted one shot in the first half, finishing 8 of 8 from the field in an efficient but quiet game. Against Minnesota the Warriors chose the opposite approach: use Curry as the screen-and-roll hub, force the defense to decide, and accept the turnovers that come with that many possessions. That is the trade Golden State wanted from the opening tip.

The volume also changes how Minnesota can defend the action. When Curry shoots six times in seven minutes, the big man has to choose between dropping toward the paint and switching onto the ball, and neither choice is comfortable for a defense missing its main scorer.

Twenty-three points by halftime

Curry had 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting at halftime, including five three-pointers. The fifth came from 31 feet, the kind of attempt that tends to signal he is in rhythm rather than hunting a highlight. Minnesota's coverage was scattered on the back end, which the ESPN report attributes partly to the team adjusting to a new rotation.

The Timberwolves were playing their first game since Anthony Edwards had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. That absence changes how a defense can help: without Edwards as the primary scoring threat, Minnesota's guards had more responsibility on both ends, and Golden State's screening actions repeatedly put two defenders in the same place.

Lendeborg's 26 and a 24-point lead

Yaxel Lendeborg scored 26 points for Golden State, and Brandon Williams added 11 off the bench. The Warriors led 93-81 after three quarters and had pushed the margin to 24 points midway through the second half; Curry's three-point play made it 78-54.

The supporting line matters because it explains how Golden State built the lead without Curry scoring every basket. Lendeborg's night was the second option the Warriors have been missing during the 0-3 start, and De'Anthony Melton hit two three-pointers in the first-quarter run that turned a close game into a 30-23 lead.

The lead was built across the middle of the game rather than in one burst. Golden State scored seven of the final nine points before halftime, then opened the third quarter with the same screening action that had worked in the first half. By the time Minnesota adjusted, the deficit was double digits entering the fourth rather than the seven points it had briefly been.

Minnesota made it close anyway

Minnesota outscored Golden State 66-55 in the second half and closed the third quarter on a 27-15 run to cut the deficit to 12. Bones Hyland came off the bench, made a pair of three-pointers and later banked in a shot that trimmed the lead to three in the final seconds. Curry ended the scoring with two free throws.

Jonathan Kuminga scored 20 points against his former team to lead Minnesota, with Jaden McDaniels and Terrence Shannon Jr. adding 19 each and Ayo Dosunmu 17. That is a balanced scoring night from a team missing its best player, and it is why the game stayed close after Golden State had controlled the middle of it.

What two wins after 0-3 can show

Golden State is 2-3; both wins came against teams with their own problems. The Warriors still have the same question they had a week ago: whether the offense can produce when Curry is not scoring 44, and whether the defense can hold a lead without needing a late stop.

Our look at the Warriors-Lakers opener covers the start of this stretch, the Timberwolves opener covers the Edwards-Ball pairing that Minnesota is now without, and the NBA Cup explainer sets out the group games that begin Friday. A 44-point night is a result; the next month will show whether it is a pattern.

There is a scheduling note attached to the result. Golden State opens NBA Cup group play at the Lakers on Friday, and Minnesota hosts the Clippers the same night, which gives both teams a short turnaround after a game that went to the final possessions.