Timberwolves Throw 21 Point Lead; Warriors Win
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Charles Jenkins had 24 points and nine assists while playing all 48 minutes to rally the Golden State Warriors from a 21-point deficit to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 93-88, on Sunday night.
Brandon Rush scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and also grabbed nine rebounds. Klay Thompson scored 17 points for the Warriors, who snapped an eight-game losing streak.
Nikola Pekovic had 19 points and 16 rebounds, and JJ Barea had 14 points and 12 assists in all 48 minutes for the Timberwolves, who announced earlier that All-Star power forward Kevin Love would not play the final two games of the season because of a concussion.
Jenkins also had six rebounds and the Warriors turned the ball over just nine times while holding the Wolves to 36 percent shooting.
Martell Webster scored 18 points and Anthony Randolph had 14 points, seven boards and five blocks for Minnesota.
The Warriors started rookies Thompson, Jenkins, Jeremy Tyler and Mickell Gladness alongside veteran Richard Jefferson for the fourth straight game, the first time the franchise has done that since it started keeping track of games in 1970-71. The last time any team in the NBA has done that was the 2003 Denver Nuggets.
Playing their third road game in three nights, it took a while for those young legs to wake up on Sunday evening.
With Barea pushing the tempo in the open floor and Pekovic controlling the paint, the Timberwolves surged out to a 53-32 lead late in the second quarter. Webster hit five of his first seven shots for the Wolves and Thompson missed nine of his first 12 shots to help the Warriors dig another big hole.
Just like in their previous meeting in this building, when the Warriors came back from 20 down to beat the Wolves on April 4, Jenkins got rolling in the second half to bring Golden State back. The super-quick point guard scored three straight buckets during a 10-0 run that cut the deficit to 68-63 late in the third quarter.
The Warriors then ripped off a 12-2 surge midway through the fourth quarter, culminating in a jumper from Jenkins to give them their first lead, 83-81, with 5:45 to play.
Pekovic's putback gave Minnesota an 88-87 lead with 1:28 to go, but Rush came back with a 3, and Dominic McGuire converted a three-point play when he was fouled on a dunk to seal the win.
NOTES: The Wolves made all 21 of their foul shots. ... McGuire finished with 12 points and seven boards. ... The Timberwolves hosted Rochester resident Igor Voykovinsky, who at 7-foot-8 is the tallest man in America.
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