Preview: Warriors seek to stop losing skid without Curry vs Timberwolves

The Golden State Warriors have lost three straight games, and that’s with the services of the greatest point guard alive Stephen Curry. As they gear up for their home contest against he Minnesota Timberwolves, a team that just beat the Dubs, they’ll have to do it without Curry who is out with knee soreness.

Oh by the way, this game is a part of the NBA’s new In-Season Tournament. Hmmmm.

Golden State Warriors vs Minnesota Timberwolves

November 14th, 2023 | 7:00 PM PT

Watch: NBC Sports Bay Area, Bally Sports North

Listen: 95.7 The Game

The Warriors have an issue this year with long and athletic teams running them away from the stuff they wanna do. The Dubs haven’t shown the requisite shotmaking or physicality to exploit creases in the defense against the tall trees. And again, that was with Curry on the floor!

Per Jack Winter of Clutch Points:

Golden State doesn’t have a dynamic secondary shot-creator who threatens defenses from all three levels of the floor, drawing defensive rotations that consistently lead to opportunities for others. Its collective lack of length and explosiveness—among the top-six, most notably—is even more glaring. There’s only so many buttons Kerr can push to overcome those roster deficiencies. He tried just about all of them on Sunday, never landing on a lineup that seemed equipped to deal with the Wolves on either side of the ball.

And our very own Joe Viray had this to say:

One might argue that the Wolves and the Cavs are perfect foils to the Warriors: lengthy, athletic, and highly physical — built to take away their beautiful brand of offense, willing to muck things up, and having an abundance of youth and juice to run them off the floor.

There’s even a bigger caveat when it comes to the Wolves, who have been the best defensive unit in the NBA so far. They are holding opponents to 101.2 points per 100 possessions — 82.2 points per 100 in the half court, per Cleaning The Glass. Both marks top the league. Knowing that, the Warriors were going to have a tough time; theory did indeed become reality.

If the Dubs are to stop their losing streak, they’ll have to find ways to make their offense click against teams that have the requisite tools to make life difficult for them.