At 10:30 am on January 16th, Beijing time, the Golden State Warriors faced off against the Minnesota Timberwolves in their fourth matchup of the season. The Warriors had previously won two out of three games against the Timberwolves. In this game, Draymond Green was absent due to illness, which was a significant loss for the Warriors. In response to Green's continued absence, Coach Kerr made another lineup change, bringing in the relatively unknown Gui Santos into the starting lineup. Notably, this was Santos' first career start! The Warriors' starting lineup featured Curry, Schroder, Wiggins, Davis, and Santos.
The Timberwolves' starting lineup included Edwards, Gobert, Randle, DiVincenzo, and McDaniels. The game began with the Warriors achieving a dream start of 13-0! DiVincenzo broke the ice with a layup, Hield scored with a mid-range shot, DiVincenzo made another layup, Curry hit a three-pointer, Looney scored two points with a layup, Curry hit another three-pointer, Hield continued the scoring with a three-pointer, Reid responded with a three-pointer, Curry continued his shooting spree with another three-pointer, Hua Zi made a mid-range shot, Schroder added a three-pointer, and Davis finished with a dunk, extending the Warriors' lead to 24 points! Randle scored with a putback, and the first quarter ended with the Warriors leading 34-12 over the Timberwolves by 22 points.
In the second quarter, Hua Zi hit two consecutive three-pointers to stop the Warriors, Wiggins made both free throws, DiVincenzo continued his three-point streak, Randle scored two points with a putback, Wiggins scored with a layup, Reid dunked, Davis responded with a dunk, Payton made a layup, Walker hit a three-pointer, Hield scored five points in a row, DiVincenzo responded with a three-pointer, Gobert dunked, Hua Zi's breakthrough stopped the Warriors again, Moody hit a timely three-pointer, Santos continued with a three-pointer, Curry scored with a drive, McDaniels hit a three-pointer, and Davis missed a buzzer-beater, ending the half with the Warriors leading 55-42 over the Timberwolves by 13 points!
In the first half, Curry scored 14 points with 5 assists, Davis had 4 points and 9 rebounds, Hield contributed 10 points with 3 steals, Hua Zi had 12 points and 5 rebounds, DiVincenzo scored 10 points, and Randle had 4 points and 3 rebounds.
In the third quarter, Schroder scored four points in a row, Randle responded with four points, Gobert made a 2+1 play, Curry easily scored two points with a layup, Wiggins hit a three-pointer, DiVincenzo made both free throws, Schroder scored two points with a floater, DiVincenzo continued his scoring streak with seven points, Wiggins made both free throws, McDaniels dunked, Curry hit a three-pointer, Edwards made a 2+1 play, Moody scored with a bank shot, Payton cut through for a layup, Reid hit a three-pointer, Wiggins scored with a strong attack, Randle scored with a putback, and Reid missed a mid-range shot. At the end of the third quarter, the Warriors led the Timberwolves 87-78 by 9 points.
In the final quarter, Hield hit a three-pointer, Randle responded with a three-pointer, Payton dunked, Reid hit a three-pointer from long range, Hield made a mid-range shot, Randle scored with a layup, McDaniels hit a three-pointer, Wiggins stopped the bleeding with a floater, Hua Zi and Moody exchanged three-pointers, Randle scored with a reverse layup, Wiggins hit a three-pointer, McDaniels made a 2+0 play, Reid scored two points with a putback, Hield made all three free throws, DiVincenzo hit a three-pointer, Curry responded with a strong three-pointer, DiVincenzo hit another three-pointer, and Reid made both free throws to tie the score! Curry's clutch three-pointer stopped the Timberwolves! McDaniels dunked, Wiggins made both free throws, but the Warriors made a turnover on their serve, giving the Timberwolves a chance! DiVincenzo scored with a reverse layup, Payton made one of two free throws, Curry made both free throws, and Hua Zi hit a trailing three-pointer, but it was not enough to turn the tide. Ultimately, the Warriors narrowly defeated the Timberwolves 116-115, refusing to be reversed by a 24-point deficit! With the Timberwolves' home defeat, they lost their seventh place in the West to the Dallas Mavericks. Although the Warriors once led by 24 points and almost suffered a reversal, they managed to secure the victory, albeit in an ugly fashion.
Warriors' stats: Wiggins scored 24 points with 5 rebounds, Davis had 4 points and 15 rebounds, Schroder scored 12 points, Curry went 10 for 21, hitting 7 out of 12 three-pointers and 4 out of 4 free throws to score 31 points with 8 assists, Hield exploded with 18 points, and Moody contributed 11 points with 4 rebounds. Timberwolves' stats: McDaniels scored 14 points with 4 rebounds, Randle had 17 points and 6 rebounds, Gobert scored 7 points with 10 rebounds, Hua Zi went 7 for 19 to score 28 points with 8 rebounds and 2 assists, DiVincenzo scored 28 points with 6 rebounds and 9 assists, and Reid had 15 points and 6 rebounds.