Warriors Drop Home Game In OT

On Tuesday, April 5, 2016, the Golden State Warriors blew a 17-point lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and lost in overtime, on their own home court in Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. As I have talked about many times on this blog since the start of the NBA season, the Warriors have been trying to chase 73 wins in order to beat the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls' historic record of 72-10, in which they were led by who many believe to be the greatest basketball player of all time in Michael Jordan, and his partner in crime Scottie Pippen. The Warriors have been chasing this record all season long, and their lack of energy as well as their fatigue is starting to show heavily. They just lost a home game for the very first time on Friday against the Boston Celtics, and this loss will be very detrimental to their chances of reaching the coveted 73-win mark. The Warriors must win-out the rest of their season which includes two games against both the Memphis Grizzlies, and their biggest competition in the San Antonio Spurs.
The game started out very well for the Warriors, taking a fifteen point 25-10 lead over the Timberwolves in the opening seven minutes of the game, following the tip-off. The Wolves were able to cut the lead to nine by the end of the quarter, but they still went into the second with a bad deficit of 19-28.
The second quarter did not seem to go especially well for either team, but both teams did manage to score pretty well. The problem was, neither team was able to outscore the other in the quarter, with both teams seemingly on fire, thus the lead still remained nine points by the time the halftime buzzer sounded, and the teams headed to the locker rooms knowing the game was 55-46 in favor of the Warriors.
The third quarter was very reminiscent of the second, as both teams scored similar points, but this time, the Timberwolves were able to outscore the Golden State Warriors, but only by one point 32-31. Thus the score going into the final period of twelve minutes was the Golden State Warriors with 86 points, and the Minnesota Timberwolves with only 78.
In the final quarter, the effects of the long season for Golden State's stars really started to show. They just weren't able to play with the energy they usually show, and the Minnesota Timberwolves were able to crawl back into the game. With just 19 seconds left, Andrew Wiggins of the Wolves scored a basket to tie the game, and the Warriors, even with 19 seconds, were unable to even put up a shot.
In overtime, the Wolves just showed complete dominance in a shocking fashion to all those watching. They outscored the Warriors 18-11 in the extra period, and won the game, handing the Warriors their dreaded 9th loss meaning the next one would destroy all hopes of them breaking the record.
The big story for why the Warriors lost this game was lack of energy and poor shooting by the Splash Brothers. Curry went 4-14 on three point attempts and Thompson went 4-11. They will need to do much better if they hope to contend for the record. They have an upcoming game later tonight at home against the Spurs, and they will need to bring their A-game if they have any hopes of winning.