/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49248571/usa-today-9233406.0.jpg)
In case you went to bed at a reasonable time like a normal person last night, opting to skip out on the second half of the Wolves game at Oracle Arena against one of the most dominant basketball teams of the 21st century, we have you covered.
Our own David Naylor wrote an excellent, detailed recap late last night (that's commitment, folks) and I'm here to relive the events with various notes and highlights.
Ready, set, go...
Game Notes (via Timberwolves_PR)
- Minnesota erased a 17-point deficit to hand Golden State its second home loss this season (37-2). The Wolves outscored the Warriors 18-11 in overtime to secure the 124-117 win.
- Starting at the 1:00 mark of the third quarter, the Wolves outscored the Warriors 52-33 — including 19-2 at the free throw line, 14-4 in points off turnovers, and 15-6 in fastbreak points — and shot 65%.
- This was Golden State's first loss of the season when leading at halftime (61-1). Minnesota's win also snapped Golden State's streak of consecutive wins when leading by 15+ points at 114. Tonight was also the Warriors' first loss this season when shooting 50% or better (34-1).
- Shabazz Muhammad scored a career-high 35 points off the bench on 9-12 shooting and 15-17 at the line. His 35 points matched Zach LaVine's franchise record for most points in a single game by a Wolves reserve. Muhammad's 15 made free throws set a new franchise record for most free throws made by a player coming off the bench. He was sensational and hopefully this career performance can spark more consistency from him moving forward; it's been a rough third NBA season for Muhammad.
Per @bball_ref Shabazz Muhammed's 35 points on 12 FGA were the most points with as few FGAs since James Posey in 2004
— Greg Rappaport (@Greg_Rappaport) April 6, 2016
- Karl-Anthony Towns finished with his usual double-double (20 points and 12 rebounds) and now has 49 on the season. No big deal. Ho-hum. With tonight's performance, Towns has 13 straight double-doubles, tying him with Andre Drummond for the NBA's longest double-double streak this season.
- Andrew Wiggins dropped 32 points, including 27 in the second half and overtime. Wiggins became the 6th player in Wolves history to record 10 30-point games in a single season and also hit two of his three attempts from deep and is now shooting 42.6% (20-47) from distance over his last 17 games. Mr. Maple also snatched a career-best six steals. #development
- Zach LaVine had 16 points, four rebounds, five assists, four steals, four 3-pointers, and one turnover. That's a very nice stat line. LaVine is shooting 44% (77-175) from the arc over his last 40 games and is harnessing his natural ability and textbook shooting form at the two-guard.
Time for the Highlights!
First Quarter
8:36 — Rubio finds KAT out of the pick-and-roll with one of his patented no-look behind the back passes that he makes look way too easy and KAT has a nice drive to the rim plus the finish.
5:09 — Draymond gets the fastbreak dunk from Steph. Oh crap, the Warriors are really going to run away with this one quickly (most viewers probably started to think).
3:15 — Hey! Nice finish from Zach LaVine off the bounce.
Second Quarter
11:14 — KAT comes off the screen and hits the jumper on the curl because he's an absolute boss.
8:53 — KAT with the offensive rebound and putback off Nemanja Bjelica's miss. Because, Boss.
8:08 — Muhammad pulls the Wolves closer with his nice post-up and lefty finish.
6:23 — Harrison Barnes with put-back slam (serious bounce!)
Audio: Steve Kerr talks to his team during the timeout...and he's satisfied.
5:24 — Muhammad and Wiggins do work on this possession. I loved the effort.
3:13 — Excellent pass from KAT to AW (great cut) for an easy dunk.
1:13 — Draymond and Steph are deadly in the fastbreak and Iggy gets rewarded.
0:15 — Tyus Jones with the smooth reverse layup heading into the break.
Third Quarter
11:21 — Dieng's swat leads to Rubio finding Wiggins for the dunk in transition.
9:12 — Steph gets the steal and hits his first shot of the night AND CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT RICKY RUBIO'S DEFENSE, OPEN YOUR EYES HATERS! HE'S ONE OF THE BEST GUARD DEFENDERS IN THE LEAGUE. This was Curry's first bucket of the game.
7:55 — Bogut dunks Draymond's miss. This...isn't going so well.
5:44 — Wiggins hits the triple off the drive and kick from his fellow Bounce Bro.
5:30 — Steph isn't hitting shots, but he gets his 13th assist on the curl and feed to Barnes.
3:29 — Check out the outlet pass from KAT to the streaking Muhammad for the #AND1
3:11 — Love the quick passes here by GSW (hot potato!) and the Wolves weren't going to hold Steph down from deep forever.
2:10 — Andrew with the dunk off the dribble. He's heating up!
1:57 — The Chef goes back to work in the kitchen with his third triple of the quarter to push the lead back to 11.
4th Quarter
Kerr is asked if he's worried about Steph Curry. "Am I concerned about Steph Curry making a shot?"
10:03 — Tyus Jones brings the Wolves within three. Curry looks miserable as the Wolves have clawed their way back into the game after being down 17 points.
9:31 — Gorgui Dieng finishes with the hammer. This is some good offensive action here with the two-man game between G and LaVine, though Speights also looks awful defensively.
6:41 — At this point, Shabazz Muhammad is absolutely feeling it as he ties the game at 94 with the trey.
5:40 — Curry's floater puts the Warriors up 100-96.
4:10 — Beautiful finish from Steph who drives past Towns (KAT is being asked to guard the best player in the league on an island).
1:18 — KAT takes it to the rim off the dribble and gets the bucket plus the blocking foul on Steph (or so we thought).
The refs review and overturn the call, claiming it was a charge instead. HORRIBLE! I disliked this very much.
0:20 — The most critical possession yet, down by two. Wiggins goes to his deadly spin move to tie the game at 106.
Final possession of the fourth: Sam Mitchell goes wild on the sidelines calling for the foul to give. Rubio obliges his request and fouls Curry with 8 seconds left on the clock. Warriors take the 20 second timeout to talk things over but Minnesota doesn't allow them to get a shot off before the end of regulation. We're headed to overtime in the Bay.
Overtime
Wiggins hits two free throws and a jumper in the first minute to put the Wolves up 110-106. Warriors call a timeout. Shaun Livingston responds with the And-1.
2:59 — Guess who!? Wiggins hits another jumper (17-footer) to put the Wolves up 112-109.
With 58 seconds remaining, Towns does this...
Split. Pass fake. Drive. Layup. And-1.
— Key Sang (@Phantele_) April 6, 2016
No one in the NBA has silenced Oracle Arena the way KAT did right here pic.twitter.com/0KAEByLTON
Golden State was never able to recover. Curry misses the 26-foot 3-pointer, Wiggins grabs the rebound, gets fouled, and Derrick's his free throws (h/t Punch-Drunk Wolves for the term). Curry misses another jumper, KAT gets the board, and splits his free throws as well. It's 120-114 at this point. Wiggins grabs another defensive rebound after Klay Thompson misses his 3-point attempt and this time AW hits both from the line to make it 122-114.
The Wolves have sealed the deal; they ended up winning 124-117 in the biggest upset of the NBA season, according to BPI (ESPN's NBA Basketball Power Index).
The Warriors were 94.3% likely to win Tuesday's game vs MIN, per BPI, making the Timberwolves' win the biggest upset of the season.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 6, 2016
The #BounceBros share a special moment after the @Timberwolves victory!https://t.co/gAhiV24Qjy
— NBA Canada (@NBACanada) April 6, 2016
Maybe beating the almost unbeatable Warriors will be a tipping point for the Wolves in their pursuit of becoming a staunch Western Conference opponent on a nightly basis, maybe it won't be. But we can all agree that last night's game was simply amazing to watch for any die-hard fan and I wanted to relive the events here as a means to remembering this game forever. That was insanely fun.