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The Golden State Warriors will be looking to put their nightmare blowout loss to the Dallas Mavericks behind them on Thursday when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves. Having missed out on a perfect opportunity to close the gap on their seeding rivals in the West, Steve Kerr will be determined to have his side ready to return to winning ways.
However, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been anything but pushovers recently. After winning six of their last ten games and three on the bounce, the T-Wolves are off the foot of the conference and playing like the team their fans hoped they could have been without injuries this season.
Match details
Fixture: Golden State Warriors vs Minnesota Timberwolves | 2020-21 NBA Season.
Date & Time - Thursday, April 29th; 8:00 PM ET (Friday, April 30th; 5:30 AM IST).
Venue - Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
Golden State Warriors preview
After being blitzed in the first half by the Mavs, the Golden State Warriors will be hoping to bounce back in a fixture they have won twice already this season.
Of course, that came against a Minnesota Timberwolves side without Karl-Anthony Towns or D'Angelo Russell. However, the Golden State Warriors will still be aiming to finish in the eighth seed this year. They need every win they can get since they have played two games more than Spurs and Grizzlies above them, and will be out to avenge Tuesday's embarrassment.
Steve Kerr said his side played the Dallas game as if it was an exhibition. If they are to succeed in this matchup, however, they will have to treat it quite differently as the Minnesota Timberwolves have multiple scorers who can hurt their opponents.
Key player - Steph Curry
Despite the embarrassing loss, Steph Curry was still able to provide 27 of the 101 Golden State Warriors points on Tuesday. The 33-year-old has had one of the greatest scoring months in NBA history, draining a record 90 threes with one game still to go.
In April, the Golden State Warriors have gone 8-6, while Curry has produced scoring splits of 50-40-90. He has made a staggering 47.6% of threes and is making a late run for the MVP award. Though he will probably miss out, Curry has had arguably his greatest season, putting up more points, more rebounds and making more free-throws than in the season he won MVP unanimously.
Golden State Warriors predicted ineup
Point Guard - Steph Curry l Shooting Guard - Mychal Mulder l Small Forward - Andrew Wiggins l Power Forward - Draymond Green l Center - Kevon Looney
Minnesota Timberwolves preview
The Minnesota Timberwolves are riding a nice wave at the moment, beating the Utah Jazz twice and the Houston Rockets over the last four days. Their recent run has been quite spectacular considering how the majority of the T-Wolves season has gone and is a testament to what they can achieve when their three stars are fit.
D'Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards have all scored over 18 points a game in the last ten matchups and are all shooting at over 40% from the field. Although the former two may leave in the offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves can at least begin a rebuild around their new face of the franchise, Edwards.
Key player - Karl-Anthony Towns
Karl-Anthony Towns will be one of the best players in the league not to appear in the NBA playoffs this year. Against Houston, Towns broke the previous Minnesota Timberwolves record for most consecutive games with a made three-pointer at 76, a number which also represents the longest such record by a center in league history.
Having missed over 20 games this season through injury and covid protocols, the Minnesota Timberwolves have suffered dramatically without Towns. With the 25-year-old, the T-Wolves are 15-26 but are 4-18 without.
Over their last ten games, Towns has averaged 24 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting the three-ball at a prolific rate of 40%.
Minnesota Timberwolves predicted lineup
Point Guard - Ricky Rubio l Shooting Guard - Anthony Edwards l Small Forward - Josh Okogie l Power Forward - Jaden McDaniels l Center - Karl-Anthony Towns
Warriors vs Timberwolves match prediction
This should be a high-scoring affair, with each team averaging over 110 points in their last five outings. There will likely be two matchups that could decide the game, the first of which will be between Karl-Anthony Towns and Kevon Looney.
In the last ten games, the Golden State Warriors rank fourth for defensive rating but are 14th for opposition points in the paint, while the Minnesota Timberwolves rank ten places higher.
On the perimeter, Steph Curry will be looking to put up another 30+ point performance as he lost his grip on the scoring title on Tuesday. The Golden State Warriors guard is likely to do so, with the Minnesota Timberwolves ranking bottom for opposition 3-pt percentage this season.
Based on greater experience and a stronger defense, we are giving a slight edge to the Golden State Warriors in this one.
Where to watch the Warriors vs Timberwolves matchup
Fans in America can catch the game locally on NBC Sports Bay Area and on Bally Sports North. It will also be available to live stream with an NBA League Pass.
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