A flurry of three-pointers determined Golden State's first visit to Target Center this season, as you might expect.
Timberwolves crush Warriors with dominating second half, Malik Beasley's three-point barrage
Beasley came off the bench to make made five three-pointers, all in the second half, while Golden State played without stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
January 17, 2022 at 12:47PM
But it wasn't record-setting shooter Stephen Curry or the Warriors that did so.
This time, it was Timberwolves reserve guard Malik Beasley's five threes made — all of them after halftime — that turned an early third-quarter deficit into a resounding 119-99 victory Sunday.
While they did, Curry and teammate Draymond Green were injured and unavailable.
In Thursday's loss at Memphis, Beasley made one of seven three-pointers. A week before that, he went 1-for-14 combined in consecutive games against Oklahoma City.
On Sunday, he provided the threes and the energy that persuaded Wolves coach Chris Finch to keep Beasley and the team's second unit on the floor for much of the fourth quarter, after Beasley helped fuel a 31-3 run that ended the third quarter and started the fourth.
"Nice to see him make some," Finch said afterward. "It's funny what a difference a game makes. But our bench was awesome tonight. They really were."
In that 116-108 loss at Memphis, the Wolves bench scored 13 points and Beasley had three of them, on one three-pointer.
On Sunday, the bench scored 57 points and Beasley had 16 of them — nine in the third and seven in the fourth. Afterward, Beasley said Finch told him in recent days what his teammates always tell him.
"Keep shooting," he said.
Even Karl-Anthony Towns had that shooting advice after he went 1-for-6 on threes Sunday but had four offensive rebounds and a 26-point, 11-rebound night.
"I tell him like I tell D-Lo," Towns said, referring to point guard D'Angelo Russell. "Stop thinking about it. You're such a good shooter. We're at the highest pinnacle of basketball. You don't get to where we are without being able to shoot. You're a great shooter. You don't have to prove it to anyone. Just go shoot."
So Beasley did before a sellout crowd announced at 17,136, many of them wearing Warriors or Curry jerseys.
"I just told myself to keep shooting," Beasley said. "I had great looks the last couple games, but it wasn't falling. Trust the work and it showed. My teammates, they tell me to keep shooting no matter what. It's great to have teammates like that."
The Warriors played on without Curry and Green in just another NBA game this season where coaches have shuffled lineups around because of injuries or COVID-19 considerations.
Curry fell on his right shooting hand in Friday's lopsided victory at Chicago and returned home rather than travel to Minnesota for the final night of a four-game trip that started with losses at Memphis and Milwaukee. Green missed his fourth consecutive game because of a sore left calf.
The Warriors arrived with a 31-11 record — the NBA's second best only to Phoenix's 33-9 — despite a season in which they haven't yet had Curry, Green and Thompson all on the floor together.
Thompson started again in his fourth game back and scored 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting.
"This season nothing surprises me," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game. "Nothing surprises any of my 29 colleagues out there. You just move forward. Guys are out with COVID. People scattered across the country, left in their hotel rooms taking COVID tests. It is what it is.
"You just push forward and hope everybody is OK and back so enough. But the games go on and you just prepare for them and do your best."
Orlando center Moritz Wagner will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee, that news coming to the injury-riddled Magic one day after they pulled off one of the more improbable wins in franchise history.
