Curry Drops 44, Warriors Survive Minnesota Rally, Win 119-114

Grab a chair, pour something warm, because this one had me sweating through my second cup of coffee by the fourth quarter. Warriors 119, Timberwolves 114, final, and I'll tell you right now what decided it: Golden State built a mountain in the first half and then spent the fourth quarter watching Minnesota try to climb it with ice picks. They almost got there too. ALMOST.

Let's talk about the man who's been doing this since before some of these Timberwolves could legally rent a car. Stephen Curry went for 44 points on 11-of-27 shooting, including 6-of-16 from deep, with 6 assists. Forty-four! At this point I'm convinced the man has a standing reservation at the top of every box score in America. He capped it the only way he knows how — ice cold at the free-throw line with 0.1 seconds left, because of course he did.

But here's the fella I want to talk about, because this is the kind of story that gets me fired up on a Wednesday: Yaxel Lendeborg. Twenty-six points on 11-of-20 shooting, 9 rebounds, a steal, and a block. That's not a stat line, that's a résumé. This kid was EVERYWHERE — cutting, finishing, hitting threes, running the break. (Draymond Green also chipped in 6 assists and 9 boards with just 3 points, which tells you he was busy being Draymond — doing the glue-guy stuff that doesn't always show up pretty on paper.)

How It Got Away From Minnesota (Then Almost Got Away From Golden State)

The Warriors came out slinging from the jump — Curry, Niang and Lendeborg trading buckets with McDaniels, Kuminga and Dosunmu in a track meet of a first quarter that ended 30-23 Golden State. Then the Dubs hit the gas, ballooning the lead to as many as 24 points by the third quarter, with Curry burying three-pointer after three-pointer in that second quarter alone like he was shooting layups.

Minnesota didn't fold, though — give Jonathan Kuminga (the Timberwolves' leading scorer with 20) and the bench mob of Terrence Shannon Jr. (19) and Bones Hyland (13) credit for not letting this one get boring. The Wolves chipped and chipped, cut it to single digits by the midpoint of the fourth, and had it down to three on a Bones Hyland bank shot with 0.8 seconds left. My blood pressure did NOT appreciate that sequence. But Curry calmly walked to the line and that was that.

Notable in the team stats: Golden State out-rebounded Minnesota 53-42 and shot a tidy 81% from the free-throw line (30-of-37), which matters a ton in a game this chippy — 24 fouls on the Warriors, 29 on the Wolves. Golden State also led for 85% of the game, which, look, if you're leading 85% of a basketball game you should probably win that basketball game. They did. Barely enough to keep my nerves intact, but a win's a win, and on the road against a tough opponent, I'll take it with both hands and a little sourdough on the side.

Next up: the Warriors host the Los Angeles Lakers, Friday, October 30, at 10:00 PM ET. Layer up out there — figuratively, since it's an away trip behind us now, but you know how I feel about preparation.