Preview: Warriors look to further secure the first seed against the Timberwolves

The Golden State Warriors gained some more separation yesterday after the Denver Nugget’s loss to the Houston Rockets moved the Warriors a full game ahead of Denver in the loss column. However with eight more games to play, there’s hardly any time for the Warriors to rest on their laurels, especially in their matchups against the bottom tier of the league.

Once a team full of promise, the Minnesota Timberwolves have now fallen into that category of utterly disappointing. They have all but officially fallen out of playoff contention, sitting nine games back of the eighth seed and having lost both Jeff Teague and Derrick Rose to injuries.

They have lost six out of their last seven games including a 117-107 loss to the Warriors just a week and a half ago.

With a fresh Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant working at an all-time efficient rate and the rest of the team rounding into playoff form, this looks to be a relatively easy win for the Warriors to pull further ahead in the playoff race.

But nevertheless this is still the NBA, where there’s enough talent for even the worst team to overcome the best on any given night. Just ask the Warriors about their loss to the Suns several weeks ago.

Game details

WHO: Golden State Warriors (51 - 23) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (33 - 41)

WHEN: Friday, March 29; 5:00 P.M. PST

WHERE: Target Center — Minneapolis, MN

WATCH: NBCSBA, FSN

RADIO: 95.7 The Game

Big men battles

In their previous matchup, Karl-Anthony Towns did eat up a freshly imported Andrew Bogut who was only in his second game back in the NBA and was still relearning and adapting to a Warriors system that has evolved since he last played in a Warriors jersey.

But DeMarcus Cousins will be suiting up tomorrow in the starting lineup, providing Towns with a defensive challenge, a known area of weakness that the Warriors will surely look to exploit.

Towns also provides a nice test for Cousins and gives the Warriors some more data on how to play skilled bigs in preparation for the playoffs.

Things starting to gel

Don’t look now, but the Warrior’s star-studded lineup has outscored their opposition by a whopping 31.7 points per 100 possessions over the past four games — limited only due to various small injuries and rest days given to each of the starters.

A tiny sample size for sure, but the Warriors have put the league on notice that when they’re locked in on both ends, it can be a bit hard to beat these blokes.

Hopefully the Warriors can continue to build on that momentum up and throughout their postseason campaign.

Prediction

Warriors go gang-busters on the Timberwolves and deliver a blowout win.