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MINNEAPOLIS -- Even the Golden State Warriors are starting to admit that what they have going on this season is special. It was a close one on Monday, but with a dozen games left in the season, the Warriors still have no concept of a losing streak. Draymond Green scored 24 points as Golden State rallied from three points down in the final six minutes, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-104 and avoiding their first back-to-back losses of the season.
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"We haven't lost two in a row all year. It's incredible," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "That's probably what I'm the most proud of, with all the numbers and streaks and all that stuff. If you can go through an entire season without losing two in a row, it's shocking. We're not there yet, but we're close. We're 70 games in and still haven't had that, so remarkable competitive desire among the players."
Despite an off night from long range, Stephen Curry added 19 points for the Warriors (63-7), who had lost Saturday in San Antonio and had their hands full with the Wolves much of Monday night. Curry finished 2-for-9 from three point range but has now hit at least one 3-pointer in 140 consecutive games.
"I've felt pretty confident. I just haven't been making them. It happens," Curry said. "For me, I'm not going to get too high, too low. ... Just keep shooting, try to take good shots so you can hopefully get a rhythm and things like that I can get better at. I'm not going to stop shooting."
Warriors guard Klay Thompson hit all five of his 3-point attempts and scored 17 points.
Andrew Wiggins led the Timberwolves (22-48) with 25 points. Minnesota had four players score at least 19 points but still lost its second game in a row.
Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 24 points, Ricky Rubio had 20 and Zach LaVine added 19.
"We had a chance to win the game. That's all I'm thinking about right now," Wolves interim head coach Sam Mitchell said. "There are no moral victories in professional sports. We had some opportunities and I just think we had some lapses in focus at times."
The game was tied at 101-101 until Green scored underneath the basket on consecutive offensive possessions, giving Golden State a lead it would not relinquish. Curry hit two free throws with 13.3 remaining to make it a two-possession game.
"I'm just very disappointed. I thought we had it today," Towns said. "We did a great job. It just didn't fall through for us. They made some big shots."
With a sellout crowd on hand, hundreds of them in Curry jerseys, the Warriors star had a rough first quarter, shooting just 2-for-8 from the field and hitting one 3-pointer on four attempts. However, his six points put him over 2,000 for the season, making him the sixth player in Golden State history to reach that milestone and the first since Antawn Jamison in 2001.
After Kerr was whistled for a technical foul, Minnesota's bench keyed an offensive outburst in the second quarter, with the Wolves taking a 52-45 lead with just over four minutes to play before halftime. Kerr's infraction seemed to have a calming effect, and the Warriors closed the first half on a 16-6 run to lead 61-58 at the break. Green tapped in a long-range shot by Curry at the buzzer.
Wiggins led all scorers in the first half with 14 points, while Rubio had 13. Curry and Green each finished with 10 points in the first half for the Warriors. Minnesota's concentration on stopping Curry left some additional opportunities for Green.
"What's happening now is everybody's switching out onto the guards," Kerr said. "Three games in a row now -- Dallas, San Antonio and now Minnesota -- they're just switching everything and that gives Draymond a ton of room to work with inside and down on the blocks. So he's going to score more when teams play us that way."
The teams traded streaks in the third, with a 10-0 Minnesota run giving the Wolves their largest lead at 89-81, then the Warriors answering with an 8-0 run to forge an 89-89 tie heading into the final 12 minutes.
NOTES: Warriors C Andrew Bogut was out of the lineup for the second consecutive game on Monday. He sustained a left toe/foot injury during Golden State's win in Dallas on Friday. ...On Monday, the Timberwolves launched an online campaign promoting F Karl-Anthony Towns for NBA Rookie of the Year. The promotion is a takeoff on the popular reality show "Cash Cab" called "KAT Cab" and features videos of a cab driver quizzing passengers about Towns' many statistical superlatives this season. ... The Warriors head back to the Bay Area for a four-game homestand, starting Wednesday night when they host the Los Angeles Clippers. Minnesota stays at home for another meeting with a Northern California foe, hosting the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.
