By Jerry Zgoda, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) –
OAKLAND, Calif. — Hurry, Ricky, hurry.
Timberwolves injured point guard Ricky Rubio flies off to Colorado for a three-day visit he hopes will get him clearance to practice with his teammates by the end of the week.
His return sometime in December won’t come a moment too soon, not for a Timberwolves team that lost its fifth consecutive game on Saturday, 96-85, at Golden State.
The last time these teams played — a whole eight days earlier at Target Center — the Warriors entered without big man Andrew Bogut and clobbered a Wolves team missing Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic and J.J. Barea on the backboards and all around the basket.
This time, like Portland did to the Wolves just 24 hours earlier, the Warriors dissected the Wolves’ overmatched backcourt with their playmaking, shooting and scoring.
On Friday, the Trail Blazers’ starting backcourt of rookie Damian Lillard and Wes Matthews combined to shoot 68 percent from the field and score 58 points.
On Saturday, Golden State’s starting backcourt of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson outscored Wolves starters Malcolm Lee and Luke Ridnour 44-2.
That’s right, 44-2.
The Warriors trailed by five points early in the fourth quarter after Derrick Williams — that’s right, Derrick Williams — shot his team back into the lead.
Ten minutes later, they led by double digits after a 21-4 run that featured veteran forward Carl Landry’s dirty work inside and Curry’s shooting and playmaking decided the game.
By then, the Warriors turned a 77-72 deficit early in the fourth quarter into an 86-79 lead with 5 minutes, 41 seconds left thanks to a 14-2 run.
Thompson finished with 24 points. Curry had 20 points and six assists.
Love finished with his third consecutive double-double — 15 points, 15 rebounds — in his third game back from that season-starting injury.
But he played the game’s final six minutes without that padded fingerless glove he predicted he’d wear until January to protect his healing broken hand. After making just six of his first 18 shots and two of four free throws, he ripped off the glove and flung it toward the photographers seated baseline and played on.
Williams hadn’t played a minute in the past two games as Wolves coach Rick Adelman turned to Love and Dante Cunningham to fill the power forward minutes. Adelman also called upon Lou Amundson to play center in a small lineup when he wanted to combat the opponent’s pick-and-roll game.
Williams might have lost his playing time when Love returned, but he didn’t lose his confidence.
He picked up where he left off the last time he played — a 37-minute, 23-point performance against these very Warriors last week — with a 11-minute performance Saturday that included two second-half three pointers and 10 points that allowed the Wolves to regain a lead just when Golden State rallied to take a 68-66 advantage with 1 minute, 26 seconds left in the third quarter.
Williams hit a jumper to tie the score and then made his first three during an 8-2 Minnesota run that ended the third quarter.
