Golden State’s Stephen defends Minnesota’s Curry Tyus Jones. | AP photo
MINNEAPOLIS — Stephen Curry scored 22 of his 36 points in the third quarter and Klay Thompson pitched in with 28 points, giving the Golden State Warriors more than enough production to beat the fading Minnesota Timberwolves 117-107 on Tuesday (Monday, Philippine Time) and regain first place in the Western Conference.
Jonas Jerebko added 18 points, Kevin Durant scored 17 points and Draymond Green had 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Warriors (48-22), who bounced back from a loss at San Antonio on Monday and moved a half-game ahead of Denver (47-22) in the race for the top seed. The Nuggets were idle.
Curry went 8 for 14 from 3-point range, pushing him past the 300 mark for the third time in four seasons. The Warriors had 39 assists on 44 made field goals and finished 19 for 42 from 3-point range in the wrap-up of a four-game trip. They’ve won 20 of their last 25 games away from home.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points and 21 rebounds, Andrew Wiggins totaled 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Josh Okogie had 19 points for the Timberwolves, who played again without the injured Jeff Teague, Derrick Rose, Robert Covington and Luol Deng, and lost their fourth straight game.
The Warriors, finishing their ninth set of games on consecutive nights out of 12 back-to-backs on their schedule this season, started rather sleepily and watched the Wolves build a 22-9 lead. Curry’s lob pass to Andrew Bogut on one possession during that stretch turned into a missed dunk.
The beauty of the Warriors — or irritation, depending on the rooting interest — is how quickly they can recover. They used a 21-3 run over the next 5:51 to take control, with their long-range shooting simply too much for this undermanned Wolves team that, even at full strength, is vulnerable defensively.
Jerebko, whose playing time has dwindled since DeMarcus Cousins returned, had 14 points in the second quarter alone, including a couple of deep 3-pointers from the wing to help the Warriors cruise into halftime with a 59-47 lead.
The Wolves managed to work their way back to tie the game at 61 on Okogie’s 3-pointer, but the Warriors needed only 3:18 for a 14-1 spurt that put them right back in charge. Curry had eight of those points.