Late-night upset: Wolves deal Warriors an overtime loss

OAKLAND, CALIF. – A funny thing happened to the Golden State Warriors on the way to their 70th victory and an approaching date with history: Tuesday's 124-117 overtime loss to the Timberwolves at Oracle Arena.

Unbeaten at home in 54 regular-season games from January 2015 until Boston's visit on Friday, the Warriors lost there for the second time in five days. They did so having every motivation to play against a Wolves team that seemingly had so little just five games from its season's end.

"They were playing for history," Wolves forward Andrew Wiggins said. "We were just trying to get in the way of it."

That they did by recovering from a 17-point, third-quarter deficit to beat a Warriors team denied of becoming only the second team in NBA history to win 70 games in a season. They did so with a bench – of all things – that led them back thanks to the pulse rookie backup point guard Tyus Jones provided and the career-high 35 points Shabazz Muhammad scored.

"We don't win without them," Wolves rookie center Karl-Anthony Towns said. "It's that simple. You don't have to go deeper than that."

Jones and Muhammad brought the Wolves back, then Wiggins and Towns took them home. Wiggins scored 27 of his 32 points after halftime, including a twirling layup with 20 seconds left that tied the game and forced overtime and the Wolves' first six points in overtime.

His work pushed the Wolves toward a 114-109 lead midway through overtime and Towns kept them there with two crucial driving layups in which the 7-footer made like a guard and scored at the rim.

Watch highlights of Tuesday's Wolves win

The Warriors now must win their final four games to surpass the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' all-time 72-10 record. To get there, they must play both rival San Antonio and Memphis twice each in the season's final week.

Undefeated in their first 24 games to start the season and unbeaten at Oracle until Friday, the Warriors now have lost two of three games -- both of them at home -- even though Tuesday they got both Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala back in the lineup.

The Wolves' victory denied Golden State a sweep of the three-game season series after two victories at Target Center earlier this season. The loss was Golden State's first this season (61-1) when it led at halftime. It ended their winning streak when they've led by 15 points at 114 games. And it was its first this season (34-1) when it shot 50 percent or better from the field.

"This doesn't surprise me," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "I think it's easy to get lost in all of this stuff. We haven't been very dialed in of late. The good news is I think we are perfectly capable of getting locked in and playing much better and we should."

And just like that game little more than two weeks ago, that strategy helped forced Curry – the Warriors' superstar and the NBA's leading scorer – into missing shots.

The last time, Curry went 6-for-17 in a five-point victory. This time, he missed all eight shots (including five three-pointers) he attempted in the first half and gestured quizzically toward the rafters when he finally made a shot early in the third quarter on his way to 21 points and a 7-for-25 shooting night.

"I love challenges," Towns said afterward, "and everyone who knows me knows that I want to guard the best and he's definitely the best scorer right now. Every time I got a chance to switch on him, I was very happy and excited for the challenge because it's a chance you don't get to do many times."

The Wolves' defensive strategy was designed to limit Curry and Thompson, who scored 25 points, and force players such as Green and Barnes to beat them. Nobody could and that included an officials' video review that reversed Towns' potential three-point play that would have tied the game with 1:09 left in regulation time. By then, Green had fouled out of the game after a 12-point, 9-assist, 6-rebound night.

The Wolves prevailed anyway, thanks plenty to Wiggins' determination and spinning drives to the basket.

"My mindset was we had to win," Wiggins said. "I had to do whatever it took for my team to win, whether it was getting on the floor, making a bucket, making the right pass. I tried to play aggressive but safe at the same time. One mistake and Golden State makes you pay for it."

Muhammad's 35 points off the bench on 9-for-12 shooting and 15 made free throws tied Zach LaVine's franchise record for most points scored by a bench player in a single game.

"If my three (2-for-4) is on and I'm getting to the basket strong, I think I'm a pretty good asset," Muhammad said. "That's something I tried to do tonight and it really worked for me."

The Warriors now have lost just nine times this season. The Wolves have won 26 games, 10 more than last season.

"When you don't have the playoffs to look forward to, you have to find things to get yourself up and ready to play," Mitchell said. "We knew how tough it was going to be. This team played hard all the way to the end. We've been through a lot. We've had some very good wins, but this is hard to top.