Draymond Green’s dunk put the Wolves to bed – and may have woken the Warriors

SAN FRANCISCO – This “Night!” “Night!” celebration had Saginaw gifts on it. Borrowing Steph Curry’s exclamatory gesture, Draymond Green wasn’t putting the Minnesota Timberwolves to bed. No, when he got around a Curry screen and punctuated the 114- 106 of the Golden State Warriors on Sunday with a thunderous dunk, as thunderous as a 34-year-old can be with the rebound of an assistant coach, Green put the Les werewolves to sleep. His version was not that of a doting patriarch, but that of a right hook looking for a concussion. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Green ran the length of the field, his hands and forearms together forming a gigantic pillow, the smirk on his face taunting the defeated. A little extra salt for the team featuring Rudy Gobert, Green’s favorite player to disdain and victim of the Warriors’ reverse pick-and-roll.

With the arena in delirium and after throwing the Timberwolves out of the building with a thumb on the shoulder, Green went “Night!” “Night!” again, this time in the form of a pose, with a wide stance and a hard grimace.

ALL angles of Dray’s ‘Night, Night’ dunk pic.twitter.com/URkZ0urhII

– Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 9, 2024

It’s a victory, and only the second in eight games. That’s above a team that had beaten them five straight times and who they’ll have to face again in Minnesota this month. But it wasn’t about the Timberwolves. It was survival energy.

The manufactured intensity of the NBA Cup wasn’t in play. And the playoff seeding is still a long way off. And despite another matchup between Curry and Anthony Edwards — one of the NBA’s future mainstays — this affair at Chase Center didn’t start with big-game vibes. It wasn’t even on national television.

However, for the Warriors, it was a monster match. A validation game. A game of viability.

Curry was in elite form. A second crack at Minnesota’s plan against him produced much better results. His 30 points and eight assists were emblematic of the crises he caused among the Timberwolves.

But the Warriors ultimately beat Minnesota because Buddy Hield caught fire. Because Jonathan Kuminga went to work in painting. Because against the Western Conference finalists, Curry was not alone in the Warriors’ offense.

Why did it work that night? Why now? “It was simple.

The Warriors went eight deep. All eight logged in for at least 20 minutes. Roles were defined and clear. The players had time to “settle in,” the word Hield used frequently. The emergency pushed Golden State to refine, downsize and concentrate its resources. The depth that fueled their hot start is still there, but not to be used all at once.

With simplification came clarity. And with clarity came production. And with production came the belief that they could hold down the fort.

What they need is clear: someone to punish their opponents for paying attention to Curry. Someone who presents a big enough problem to distract Curry, so he can do his job with fewer restrictions.

When they get it, they’re pretty good. Hield playing 35 minutes gave him the space to find his rhythm, and he caught fire, finishing with seven 3-pointers fueling his 27 points. Kuminga, with the ground spread by shooters and a single big one, attacked and attacked. Of his 20 points, 17 came from the paint or the free throw line.

They showed the power on the table if they got reliable offense alongside Curry, especially from someone who can create offense for himself and others. It is well understood within the franchise that the Warriors need another player. Someone who can fetch a bucket. Someone who would thrive with Curry guarding face and essentially getting the space of a four-on-four. Someone who can chase matchups and diversify the way the Warriors attack.

But will they be able to hold out before finding such a player?

The Warriors finished fifth in the Western Conference on Sunday. They have 27 games (which count toward their record) between now and the February 6 trade deadline. Can they go 16-11 during this streak to keep them on pace for around 50 wins?

Trades tend to happen closer to the deadline. As long as teams have time, they tend to take it. Or desperate teams may overpay for an earlier move, or risk missing out on bigger prizes when teams have to make tough choices.

Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy has not shown a willingness to accept a deal he might not like for the sake of immediate returns. So it’s a safe bet that the Warriors are going to play this until they get something optimal. Which means they’ll probably have to stay as is until options improve.

Can Hield make enough 3s if his minutes remain stable? He is 37 of 84 from 3-point range when playing at least 27 minutes.

Can Kuminga continue to apply pressure? He averages 19.3 points when playing 25 minutes or more. His slashing dunk was the highlight of a night that seemed to show Kuminga was figuring out where he did the most damage. That’s what the Warriors are hoping for.

Golden State is in a good position defensively. Green’s health is an ongoing concern, especially since the current emergency could necessitate more minutes from him at center. But even without that, Kevon Looney has been brilliant so far this season. Andrew Wiggins is still good on the perimeter.

And Gary Payton put on a clinic against Anthony Edwards, who went 1 for 7 from the field in the fourth quarter.

“You have to work hard against GP,” Kuminga said. “What people don’t know is that GP is really strong. When he puts his hand on your hip, he is strong and he can control you. So you have to work very hard to free yourself.

The problem was offensive. If the Warriors make 3s, it looks awesome. But if they don’t, scoring is a struggle.

That’s why Sunday’s victory was significant. The last three times the Timberwolves have come to the Bay, they have been nothing short of stifling. This is a nightmare for Golden State. They have young, long, athletic wings that defend themselves as if they were saving a life. They have a four-time Defensive Player of the Year protecting the rim waiting for anyone to break past the perimeter dogs.

The Warriors’ counter to such an attack is Curry’s brilliance and the gravitas he engenders. That hasn’t been enough lately. They had lost six of their last seven games because in the fourth quarter, when good teams appear, they don’t have enough outside of Curry.

A concern big enough to wonder if their hot start was just a mirage. A concern big enough to call into question their status as one of the best teams in the Western Conference, worthy of a playoff spot.

The urgency of the evening was therefore born organically. The Warriors scored 44 points in the third quarter, then made every play down the stretch to hold off their nemesis.

“Just having an organization on how we try to create schemes,” Curry said, “that has the ball in their hands, where everyone is spaced out, so that the pieces of the puzzle fit together. … We have to make the game as simple as possible when we get in trouble, the chaos creates confusion, and then you start turning the ball over, and that affects the morale, the other team feasts on it and the momentum. changes quickly We controlled every possession, I threw one. turnovers early in the fourth, and then we didn’t feel like we had any after that because we were just organized.

Organized, in this sense, means that everyone knows when they are playing and where they will be when they are on the field. On Sunday, the Warriors scattered the Timberwolves and relied heavily on pick-and-rolls. Minnesota’s aggressive defense makes dribble handoffs difficult along the perimeter.

Shooters know where to spot. The roller knows where and when to cut. The ball handler has time and space to work – since the Warriors’ philosophy of making a half-second decision is on the back burner.

So Green’s dagger dunk was appropriate.

He crossed several times and slipped to Gobert, who was defending Green all along the perimeter. Green knew what was coming, so he almost playfully dribbled between his legs waiting for it to happen, putting Gobert to sleep.

Hield was on the right wing, preventing Edwards from helping him. Kuminga was in the right corner, Payton in the left corner. So when Curry set the screen, the options came to life. Kuminga was healing from the corner, so if Julius Randle had engaged in training, Kuminga was already cutting. Payton was spaced far in the left corner, a spot where he’s most likely to make a 3 — or sneak in through a backdoor if Nickeil Alexander-Walker loses sight of him. If Jaden McDaniels disabled Curry on Green, Curry was open behind the 3-point line, ready for the return pass.

But Green kept it simple. He saw the way and exploded. He put Minnesota to sleep with a right-handed dunk. And maybe he woke up the Warriors again.

(Top photo of Draymond Green doing the “Night! Night” celebration after his fourth-quarter dunk on Sunday: Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)