Preview: Warriors (17-2) at Minnesota Timberwolves (4-15) – Bounce Brothers vs Splash Brothers

Golden State Warriors (17-2) @ Minnesota Timberwolves (4-15)

Tip-off: Monday, December 8th, 2014 – 5:00PM PDT

Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN

TV: CSN Bay Area | Radio: KNBR 680 AM

Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors #LetsGoWarriorsLive

Projected Starting Lineups:

WARRIORS

PG: Stephen Curry (23.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 7.7APG)

SG: Klay Thompson (21.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 3.5 APG)

SF: Harrison Barnes (11.6 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.4 APG)

PF: Draymond Green (13.5 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 3.1 APG)

C: Andrew Bogut (7.4 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 3.1 APG)

Head Coach: Steve Kerr (17-2, .895)

TIMBERWOLVES

PG: Zach LaVine (8.9 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 2.8 APG)

SG: Corey Brewer (10.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.7 APG)

SF: Andrew Wiggins (11.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.1 APG)

PF: Thaddeus Young (14.0 PPG, 4.4 RPG 1.9 APG)

C: Gorgui Dieng (8.7 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.9 APG)

Head Coach: Flip Saunders (642-541, . 543)

Last Time Out:

On Saturday, Dec 6th Golden State won their franchise record 12th in a row defeating Chicago 112-102.

On Saturday, Dec 6th Minnesota lost to San Antonio 101-123

On 4/14/2014, Curry tallied 32-and-15 as the Warriors beat the Timberwolves at Oracle.

Young Pups On Display:

Per Taylor Bechtold, AP/STATS:

Minnesota lost its fifth straight overall Saturday, 123-101 at San Antonio. The club remains without Nikola Pekovic, Kevin Martin, Ricky Rubio and Mo Williams due to injury.
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“(The Spurs) did exactly what they were supposed to do to a young team, which is hit us first and see how we respond,” Thaddeus Young said. “As you can see, we didn’t respond well.”
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Rookie Zach LaVine has been a bright spot with 39 points in his last two games – he also had 10 assists against the Spurs – while Shabazz Muhammad has averaged 18.0 points on 58.3 percent shooting in his past five.

Top overall pick Andrew Wiggins, though, has shot just 31.6 percent over his last seven games.

So the Wolves are depleted, but they sure do have a nice crop of young stars. LaVine is an instant favorite to win the 2015 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Wiggins is the highly touted Number One Draft Pick that was received in the deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers for Kevin Love.

Game Notes:

• “Flip Saunders on playing the Warriors? “You ever play the game of Risk? I feel like I’m Macedonia with two people, and I’m surrounded..” — Diamond Leung, Bay Area News Group

• “Minny coach Flip Saunders said Klay Thompson was the best 2-way 2-guard in the league last season and has taken his game to another level.” — Rusty Simmons, San Francisco Chronicle

• “Shabazz Muhammad will be available tonight. He was questionable with a sore left ankle…Shabazz out warming up like normal, guess that MRI this afternoon didn’t show anything troublesome” — Jerry Zgoda, Star Tribune

• Minnesota’s injury report is long:

  “Guard Kevin Martin: Has missed the past nine contests after suffering a fractured right wrist on Nov. 19 vs. New York. He underwent surgery on Nov. 25 and will be sidelined indefinitely.

  Forward Shabazz Muhammad: Listed as questionable for tonight’s game due to a sore left ankle.

  Center Nikola Pekovic: Has missed the past 10 games due to a sprained right wrist, and will not
  play in tonight’s contest.

  Guard Ricky Rubio: Has been sidelined for the past 14 contests after suffering a sprained left
  ankle on Nov. 7 at Orlando, and is out indefinitely.

  Center Ronny Turiaf: Has missed the past 11 games (16 overall) due to soreness in his right hip,
  and will not play in tonight’s contest.

  Guard Mo Williams: Has been sidelined for the past two games due to back spasms, and will not
  play in tonight’s contest.” — Timberwolves PR

• “The Warriors head into Monday’s road trip finale riding a 12-game winning streak, the longest in franchise history. The Warriors have won each of their last five games in Minnesota. Golden State has taken 14 of the last 17 meetings between the two.” — Warriors PR

• “At 17-2, the Warriors are off to their best start through 19 games in the franchise’s 69-year history. The Warriors have tied a franchise mark for consecutive road victories, winning their seventh straight away from home (last achieved on 12/23/13-1/7/14).” — Warriors PR

• “Steve Kerr is the third head coach in NBA history to begin his head coaching career with a 17-2 record or better, along with Syracuse’s Al Cervi (1949-50) and Dallas’ Avery Johnson (2004-05/2005-06)… Of those three, only Kerr and Cervi have done so to begin a season.” — Warriors PR

• Wolves forward Jeff Adrien appeared in 23 games with the Warriors as a rookie in 2010-11, averaging 2.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 8.5 minutes per game, center Ronny Turiaf spent two seasons with the Warriors (2008-10), averaging 5.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.8 blocks in 21.2 minutes over 121 games (46 starts).” — Warriors PR

Check back before tipoff as we will update this preview with the latest from GSW/MIN beatwriters at the arena!

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