MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Andre Iguodala and Leandro Barbosa led a dominant effort from the Golden State Warriors' reserves and Klay Thompson hit a big 3-pointer down the stretch to close out a long road trip with a 94-91 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.
Iguodala scored just eight points on 4-for-4 shooting and Barbosa had 10 points, but they spearheaded an energized second unit that picked up the slack for their sluggish starters. Stephen Curry had 25 points on 9-for-23 shooting for Golden State (42-9), which goes into the All-Star break with the best record in the NBA.
Kevin Martin scored 21 points and Ricky Rubio had 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Timberwolves (11-42), who rallied from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game.
The Warriors were playing their fifth game in eight nights and the last of a four-game road trip before the All-Star break, and coach Steve Kerr recognized that by taking the team bowling on the off day in the Twin Cities on Tuesday rather than holding a practice.
The Warriors missed nine of their first 11 3-pointers, but their hard-nosed second unit turned up the energy in the second quarter to get them going. Iguodala and Barbosa beat the younger Wolves down the court for easy layups in transition and Marreese Speights and Shaun Livingston helped put the defensive clamps on a Wolves bench squad that struggles to move the ball when Rubio goes to the bench.
They were central figures in a 14-4 run in the first half and a 12-4 spurt at the start of the fourth that gave the Warriors just enough cushion to survive. Golden State led Minnesota 32-14 in bench points and shot 17 for 30 from the field.
Even with Curry missing eight of his 10 3s, Golden State led 85-71 lead with 7:30 to play.
But Rubio led a charge late. He scored seven points during a 12-0 run that brought them back and Thaddeus Young converted a layup to tie the score at 89 with 1:35 to play.
Thompson drilled a 3 on the next possession and Wolves center Nikola Pekovic missed a layup with 7.9 seconds to go that would have put Minnesota in front.
Pekovic had 17 points and 13 rebounds and Thompson finished with 14 points.