THOMAS & MACK, LAS VEGAS, NV — One night after getting blown out by the Cavs, the Golden State Warriors (0-2) were back at it for their third and last 2017 NBA Summer League pre-playoff tournament game against the Minnesota Timberwolves (1-1).
The Warriors were without Kevon Looney, who had an allergic reaction. Jordan Bell started at power forward in his place.
Q1: Drought
Along with Bell, Alex Hamilton — who probably earned the start with his recent stellar play — and Bryce Alford got the start, with Xavier Munford and Jabari Brown on the bench.
The Timberwolves got off to a 4-0 start even as Jordan Bell recorded a quick blocked shot, but Damian Jones also got his first attempt swatted.
However, Wolves point guard Marcus Paige lost the ball twice and the Warriors made him pay with successive run-outs by Hamilton and Alford.
Jones then blocked a drive by , Bell got the loose ball, and found Patrick McCaw on another run-out layup to take a 6-4 lead as Minnesota called timeout with 6:03 remaining:
https://twitter.com/warriors/status/884942583822143488/video/1
But the Warriors wouldn’t score for the next near-six minutes, as Jones got blocked inside again, although he came back with another volleyball swat into the sideline seats.
The Wolves weren’t necessarily shooting lights out, but hustled on putbacks and drew fouls, while Golden State found itself late in the shotclock as McCaw missed a three, Jones committed a rebounding foul as did D. Williams.
With under twenty seconds to play, Bell grabbed a miss by Noah Allen and Elgin Cook finally broke the massive drought with a three.
Deonte Burton missed a triple at the other end and the Wolves took a 13-9 lead into the second stanza.
Q2: Can’t Keep The Run Going
Charles Cooke hit a jumper to start the second quarter, but Alford got it going, burying two free throws, then catching a pass from Jones, upfaking a three, and dishing down low to Bell for a slam dunk…
https://twitter.com/GSWdelivery/status/884946793175195648/video/1
…after Hamilton had a nice early offense attack after a defensive rebound by Bell.
Alford swished a three the next time down, plus the harm, after Jones got another block on Perry Ellis. Then Jones blocked Ellis again, his third blocked shot of the night, but Paige scored, only to get answered by McCaw streaking down the court, finishing with a nice Euro-step.
That gave the Warriors a 21-17 lead with 6:45 to play.
Jones got an inside bucket via McCaw, but Bell made a bad screen and the Warriors fell into another drought.
McCaw missed a step-back three, Alford bricked late in the shot clock, and Ellis got hot again, drilling a trey after the Warriors couldn’t secure the free throw rebound, then hit another one to give the Wolves a 30-25 lead with under three minutes to go.
Cook this time got a block, but Levi Randolph hit a triple. Charles Cooke added a jumper for Minnesota, and finally Dylan Ennis got an and-one for Golden State, and the Wolves held a 37-29 lead at halftime.
Bell and Jones had a combined 7 blocked shots (Bell had 4). Bell added 6 rebounds, but Jones only had 2 boards.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @poormanscommish)
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