The bigs deserve most of the credit in this one, as they frustrated Kevin Love and his frontline friends on the way to a +41 between Lee, Biedrins, Udoh, and Amundson. They won the rebounding battle against a team that bested them by 21 on that stat in their last meeting, and fueled the Warriors big turnover advantage by making Darko cough up the ball and generating 10 blocks (5 of those for Udoh). And, of course, ending Love’s double-double streak is a nice trophy achievement — one that should go in Lee’s case.

Another thing that stood out about this game was how ugly it was during the Warriors’ run over the 3rd and 4th quarters. It had a slow, plodding pace with a ton of whistles, but for once the Dubs were the beneficiary of ugly ball as they completely flummoxed the Timberwolves’ offense and got plenty on their own offensive end to pull away.

So, good to see a game play out the way it was supposed to, as the Warriors have been a bit lazy about playing up/down to their level of competition this year. But to win consistently you need to beat up on the teams you should, then steal a few against those above you. This was a nice step in that direction — and tonight we’ll see if they can keep it up with a road game against the Kings.

The Warriors started well, but the aforementioned defense (or lack thereof) and a disastrous 3rd quarter put them down 17 points in the 4th quarter. Even if they had pulled off the comeback at the end, it still wouldn’t have said much positive about this team.

An odd line for Curry — 33 points, 11 rebounds, but only 2 assists? — but at least he scored. I see that Monta’s shot once again wasn’t falling, but at least he moved the ball around a bit on the way to 8 dimes (though it sounds like that final shot attempt was fairly weak). And hey, lookie there: Ekpe got a defensive rebound!

All in all, exactly what they didn’t need, and I’m starting to feel like quite the fool for my 15-12 post-All-Star prediction. They now head to Indiana for a game on Tuesday against the Pacers (the first of a back-to-back), so it will be interesting to see how the team reacts. Can’t say I’m optimistic at this point.

Admunson was a force off the bench and sported an eye-popping +22. But if you watched the game last night you did not need to see that stat to know he was one of the major reasons they Warriors were able to pull away late. And pull away late on the back end of the B2B even if it was at home. This smelled like a trap game so it was great to see them pull it off.

Props obviously have to go to Monta for scoring 30+ points and playing all 48 minutes. Reggie Williams had another good game, including a monster heart stopping dunk. I swear I think he is going to come up short and brick those high flying dunks every time.

David Lee had another double-double 10-11, but was a pathetic -13. I am not sure I believe he is all the way back to 100% yet. At least let’s hope that is the reason otherwise this is going to be a long half a decade paying his salary. But props to him and the rest of the big men for holding Love and Beasley in check.

Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images

The Warriors come away with a sorely needed victory, riding David Lee’s enthusiasm and Dorell Wright’s hot hand to a win over the lowly T-wolves. Boy, it’s nice to see a new green tick on the left for the first time in a while!

As far as the formula for victory, on first glance this one is a bit of a head scratcher as the Warriors were out-rebounded 55-32, were out-shot from the line 31-17, and gave up 22 and 21 to Kevin Love. But what they did do was shoot over 50% while holding the T-wolves under 40%, went 12-18 from deep, assisted 26 of their 40 field goals, and dominated the turnover battle 21-11. That should do the trick most nights.

They had a nice start, taking a lead at the end of the first quarter for the first time in a while (though they did bleed a bigger early lead down to 2 by the end of the period). And their third quarter was one of their best of the year, with Wright refusing to miss from outside and Gadzuric providing a huge burst of energy off the bench.

Gadzuric finished with 8 points and a team-high +18 in 18 minutes off the bench subbing for a foul-prone Biedrins, and Smart deservedly gave him the game ball. Dude is obviously awkward and borderline uncoordinated, but damn does he bring the energy every night. Unlike many Warriors of recent vintage, effort is never the problem with him.

Outside of Gadzuric though, the bench reverted to its largely useless status. Monta played the full 48, Wright was over 46, and Lee played 43 minutes in his first game back from two weeks off. I think Smart was well aware of how much they needed this game.

So the legend of David Lee will grow, even though he only had 10 points and 6 rebounds. But he seems to have a big impact on defense with his size and communication, and the team clearly benefits from his energy and leadership. And as GSOM notes, he kept Vlad on the bench which may have been his biggest contribution of all.

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• Beef Injection. With a few notable exceptions (such as last night), the Warriors have been getting destroyed inside since Lee went out with his elbow injury. How much of an impact will he have tonight, considering that he couldn’t even get his heart rate up for a week and a half? At the very least, his enthusiasm, defensive communication, and great hands on the boards have to be an improvement over what we’ve seen the past two weeks. The question is whether it will be enough to spur a win on a road back-to-back.
• No Love. WP48 credits Kevin Love with 4.1 wins — and no other Timberwolf (sp?) has generated even one (Anthony Tolliver, of all people, is second on the team with .7). Keep him relatively quiet and the Warriors should have an excellent chance to win the game. We’ve already seen what Love can do this year, so this will be quite the matchup for Lee on his return. I’d like to see Adrien work on Love a bit as well, as his bodying up on Zach Randolph slowed the Grizzlies’ biggest post-presence last night.
• Day Old Beans. Biedrins looks like a completely different player last night, with great energy, smooth moves, and soft hands. Can’t expect him to be similarly dominant on the back end of a back-to-back (especially since he played over 40 minutes last night), but it would be great to see him build on last night and at least show similar energy in spurts tonight.