Matchups and Keys: Warriors Take on Healthy Timberwolves

Before Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson head to New York City for the All-Star festivities and their teammates enjoy a nice, long break, the Golden State Warriors have to take care of business against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night on the road.

On paper, it should be easy pickins considering the Warriors have the same amount of wins (41) as the Timberwolves do losses — Minnesota is the worst team in the West at 11-41.

But the Timberwolves have won three of their last four, including an impressive home win over the Grizzlies last Friday. They finally have all of their core pieces healthy, with Kevin Martin, Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic returning from injuries.

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Andrew Wiggins, averaging 15.4 points per game to lead all rookies, should be the runaway Rookie of the Year, and they have some solid young pieces off the bench in Zach LaVine, Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammed and Anthony Bennett. The Timberwolves also acquired Gary Neal from the Hornets earlier this week in a trade for Mo Williams.

So, the Warriors, who are coming off a rather stagnant win over the lowly 76ers, should not sleep on the Timberwolves, who are more dangerous than their record indicates.

Key Matchups

Stephen Curry vs. Ricky Rubio: Curry and Rubio will forever be linked because the Timberwolves passed over Curry (twice!) and chose Rubio fifth overall in the 2009 draft. It’s safe to say that the Timberwolves made a gargantuan mistake — Curry has evolved into a superstar while Rubio has dealt with injuries and deficiencies in his game. However, Rubio is averaging 10.0 points and 8.1 assists in nine games this season. He has terrific court vision and is sneaky with his shots. It will be intriguing to watch two of the more flashier point guards in the NBA go head-to-head.

Harrison Barnes vs. Andrew Wiggins: The similarities between the two are clear: both were highly touted coming of college, and both are athletic wingers who play a similar style. Wiggins is already playing a prominent role as a rookie while Barnes has settled in a starter on the best team in the league. Seeing this lanky, athletic youngsters go at it will be intriguing.

Klay Thompson vs. Kevin Martin: Thompson and Martin are both streaky shooters who are capable of going off at any given moment. Martin, especially, seems to always have big games against the Warriors, so it will be up to Thompson to slow down the Timberwolves’ leading scorer on the defensive end.

Keys to the Game

1. Make open shots

The Warriors won ugly over the Sixers on Monday, 89-84. It was the first time since Christmas that they scored less than 100 points in a game. They shot just 40.0 percent from the field and 24.1 percent from three-point range, with Curry and Thompson missing several open looks. The Warriors need to generate good looks and knock them down when given the opportunity; not every team is going to be like the Sixers.

2. Be motivated

The lack of motivation and lackadaisical attitude was prevalent against the Sixers, which is understandable. The Warriors are far away from home playing against awful teams with the All-Star break just days away. Whatever it may be, the Warriors need to find that motivation to give them the impetus to win this game.

They may win it based on talent alone, but you can bet Steve Kerr won’t be very happy unless he sees a marked improvement from Monday’s performance.