The Golden State Warriors suffered their fourth straight loss on Tuesday, falling to the surging Minnesota Timberwolves 104-101 at Chase Center. At least the woefully shorthanded Dubs—playing without an injured Steph Curry and ejected Klay Thompson and Draymond Green—kept the score close in case of in-season tournament tiebreakers, right?
Let's dive into three in-depth reactions from the Warriors' nail-biting loss to the Wolves.
Brandin Podziemski makes his case for minutes
Steve Kerr recently lamented his inability to find regular minutes for Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis, the Dubs' ready-made rookies. All it took on Tuesday night for them to get extended burn was the absence of three future Hall-of-Famers, a unique, unforeseen opportunity of which Podziemski more than made the most.
He scored a team-high 23 on 9-of-18 shooting, hitting three triples while adding seven rebounds and five assists. Podziemski got off to a roaring start after Thompson and Green were ejected, continuing to play a central role for the Dubs deep into the fourth quarter. His turnaround, buzzer-beating corner triple to end the third quarter—with convenient help from the glass—gave Golden State a seven-point lead entering the final stanza.
Podziemski wasn't quite as effective late, clanking open jumpers and committing a couple careless turnovers. He did give the Warriors a lead in crunch-time, sizing up Mike Conley late in the shot clock before driving right into a high-arching floater prior to Rudy Gobert arriving for an effective contest, banking the ball in plus the foul.
Needless to say, Podziemski—the best passer at Las Vegas Summer League, as we saw it—is overstretched being a primary driver of offense right now. He'll probably always be best playing next to another ball handler, attacking bent defenses off second-side actions. But there's plenty of utility in that role for a player always seeking any possible advantage, whether through random screens for teammates, constant movement off the ball or incessant communication on both sides of the floor.
Podziemski already comports himself like a veteran. These are simple plays, but show precisely why he's making a strong case for consistent playing time less than a year removed from the West Coast Conference: The ability to map the floor in real-time and anticipate possessions as they're developing.
Flashes of isolation comfort like this are just a bonus for Podziemski and the Dubs in the very early stages of his career.
A roster numbers crunch may prevent Podziemski from ever getting rotation minutes in 2023-24. Rock-solid and active he is as a help defender, Podziemski's lack of length and lateral quickness can make him a target defensively, too. He's also clearly still getting comfortable with the additional length of the NBA three-point line.
But Tuesday's showing was nevertheless the strongest confirmation of what the Warriors already knew. Podziemski can really play, and is poised to prove as much in ways both obvious and subtle pretty much whenever he takes the floor as the 82-game grind continues.
Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga vanish down the stretch
You'd think Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga would've had to play major roles for Warriors' B-team to keep pace with the red-hot Wolves. But it was mostly Podziemski and Dario Saric who picked up the scoring slack of Curry and Thompson, with a mini late-game flurry from Chris Paul also keeping Golden State in touch on the scoreboard. Moody and Kuminga, in fact, were barely on the floor as the game hung in the balance, combining for less than six minutes of action in the fourth quarter after each closed tight games earlier this season.
Kerr's decision to leave them on the bench is head-scratching at first glance, but more understandable considering specific context of one of the strangest games you'll see all season.
Saric was the Dubs' main hub of offense; he needed to be on the floor in the fourth quarter. But he's been exploited defensively at center all season long, and was easy prey for both Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota's win at Chase Center on Sunday night. With Green in the locker room, that meant Kevon Looney needed to be in the game late. Paul was a shoo-in, and so was Podziemski given the life he gave the Dubs from the moment he entered in the first quarter. The Warriors play Kuminga exclusively at the 4, but could Moody have taken Wiggins' place in the clutch?
Moody was much better than Wiggins offensively on Tuesday, scoring 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting while exhibiting some rare juice as a penetrator. When was the last time you saw Moody turn the corner toward the paint out of “zoom” action with this much aggression, let alone finish with craft around a rim-protector like Gobert?
Wiggins, on the other hand, twice had his shot thrown right back at him in the fourth quarter, attacking with the same blend of tentativeness and lack of control he's been unable to shake all season. He was out there instead of Moody for on-ball defense of Edwards, which is justifiable given the latter is best used as a help defender instead of a primary stopper.
Wiggins fared well checking Edwards all night, too, which made the game's most significant possession so frustrating. A cross-match left Podziemski guarding Edwards as Minny led by one with the game clock ticking below 30 seconds, ultimately yielding help on the drive that resulted in a game-sealing trey from Mike Conley.
Moody and Kuminga's lack of playing time in the fourth quarter is defensible given the tenor of Tuesday's game. On a night when the Dubs needed absolutely all hands on deck, though, it still would've been optimal for both to get a longer longer fourth-quarter leash, giving them the chance to earn their way into the crunch-time five.
Andrew Wiggins is still in his funk
Kerr went out of his way after the game to laud Wiggins for his energy early, pointing specifically to a multi-effort sequence in the first quarter that serves as a microcosm of his inability to breakout of an ongoing, early-season funk.
“Wiggs, that early possession where he was just fighting like crazy and got like three loose balls,” Kerr said. “And the way things are going for him, he doesn't get the call. He's going up and they rake him across the arm and he doesn't get the call, which is just kind of the way things have gone for him to start the year. I thought his energy to start the game was great.”
Wiggins indeed played with more zeal Tuesday than he has in other games this season, especially defensively and on the glass. All three of his steals came in the first quarter, and Wiggins' solid one-on-one defense definitely played a part in Edwards staying relatively quiet with 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
It was more of the same from him offensively, though, an especially damning indictment considering the Warriors needed his scoring punch more than ever with Curry and Thompson out. The Dubs can live with him going 1-of-7 from three. What remains unacceptable was Wiggins' palpable lack of confidence and edge when tasked with creating himself, manifested almost as much by him shrinking from the moment in the clutch as these hopelessly casual rim attempts over Gobert.
Wiggins sandwiched an ugly missed three in between these possessions. He didn't shoot again in the fourth quarter, standing idly by while a 38-year-old, mid-major rookie and journeyman big controlled Golden State's offense. Despite the best efforts of Paul, Podziemski and Saric, that approach didn't work; the Warriors managed a paltry 72.0 offensive rating in the game's last 12 minutes.
It's no secret that Wiggins needs to be much, much better for the Dubs to reach their peak. The defense and off-ball activity levels are at least trending in the right direction. But after a night he knew full well Golden State needed him, the same definitely can't be said for Wiggins' progress as a creator and scorer.
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