The Golden State Warriors' run at history remains alive after Monday's 109-104 victory over the Timberwolves at Target Center, and this one has nothing to do with their pursuit of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' record 72 victories.
No team has gone an entire NBA season without losing consecutive games — the 1984-85 Boston Celtics remain the closest, going 74 games into the season doing so — and both the Warriors and San Antonio still have the chance to do it.
Golden State still has that opportunity after it outlasted a Wolves team that claimed afterward it did everything it wanted Monday but win Monday night, before the season's first sellout crowd on a night when every patron was given a white towel to wave.
"We knew they were probably going to play better than their record," said Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, whose team has the best record (63-7) in NBA history through 70 games. "That's an expectation you have to have every single night when we come in."
Borrowing a strategy San Antonio used Saturday to beat the Warriors, the Wolves switched their defensive coverages on pick-and-roll plays more aggressively than they have all season, asking their big players to chase Curry and Klay Thompson beyond the three-point line and their guards to defend forward Draymond Green and other bigger players close to the basket.
By doing so, the Wolves led the reigning NBA champions by four points with seven minutes remaining. By doing so, they also turned Curry — the league's leading scorer — into a playmaker (11 assists) instead and forced Green, rather than Curry or Thompson, to beat them.
That Green did, with 24 points, nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks.
"You're just disappointed," Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell said. "This would have been a nice win in front of a great crowd tonight."
Meanwhile, the Wolves defense held Curry to 6-for-17 shooting — including 2-for-9 on three-pointers. Thompson went 5-for-14 from the field.
"He's such a talented guy scoring," Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio said afterward of Curry, who attracted 3,000 people to Target Center 75 minutes early just to watch his shooting warmup. "Sometimes you want the other guys to score even when those other guys are Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, who are like All-Stars, too. We played our odds."
They played well enough that Andrew Wiggins' forced turnaround shot with 16 seconds could have tied the score. They played well enough that Wiggins' three free-throw attempts with 7.1 seconds left could have pulled the Wolves within a point if Wiggins hadn't missed two of the three.
"It wasn't the best shot, I was just confident I was going to make it," said Wiggins, who led all scorers with 25 points. "I couldn't really finish it off today. Usually, I can make plays, score. Tonight, I didn't close the game for my team."
The Wolves might have just as well lost the game at the end of the third quarter, when they allowed the Warriors a closing 8-0 run that tied the game after the Wolves led 89-81 with 1:44 left.
Either way, it was one that slipped away.
"Of course, when you look 20 years from now and see their record — whatever they end up, it'll be a great season for them — having given them one of their losses would be great," Rubio said. "But we have another chance, in Golden State [April 5]. We have to finish the season strong."
