Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors gave fans in China a crowd-pleasing taste of their up-tempo, free-flowing ball movement and explosive scoring.
Jimmy Butler and the re-tooled Timberwolves played a more complete game, however, and moved in front for good in the fourth quarter in Shenzhen.
”We played well for about a quarter and a half and then we started getting careless with the ball,” said Kerr, who suggested his team should have led by 15 at halftime, when Golden State instead led by just five at 55-50.
”We got lazy,” Kerr added.
Stephen Curry was called for five fouls in about 24 minutes on the court, but still managed to score 14 points.
”Hopefully I can get rid of all the fouls in the preseason. That’s what the preseason’s for,” Curry said.
Durant was the most efficient player on the court, hitting an array of mid-range jumpers as the Warriors held the lead for the first three quarters.
Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau sounded pleased by his team’s progression during the game and stressed the urgency of his new lineup, featuring the addition of Butler, getting in synch before the regular season opens this month.
”The second half we played better, moved the ball better, ran better plays,” Thibodeau said. ”Obviously with a shortened preseason – we’re only playing three games – we have to move things along a lot quicker.”
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TIMBERWOLVES 111, WARRIORS 97
Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns each scored 16 points in 26 minutes apiece for the Timberwolves. Durant scored 20 points in 25 minutes to lead Golden State.
MINNESOTA: Power forward Taj Gibson is looking more with his new team after being reunited with Thibodeau, his old Chicago Bulls coach. Gibson scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds while showing the ability to become more of a ”stretch four” in Thibodeau’s system. He hit one of two 3-point shots – not bad for a player who has attempted only 35 3s in his career and made only three last season. … Andrew Wiggins added 14 points on 5 of 11 shooting from the field.
GOLDEN STATE: Curry hit three of six from 3-point range, as did Klay Thompson, who finished with 13 points in 24 minutes.
UP NEXT: The Warriors (0-2) and Timberwolves (2-0) meet again on Sunday in Shanghai, China.
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More NBA basketball: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball
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