OAKLAND -- The Warriors wobbled and staggered, but managed to be upright at the finish Friday night.
They stretched their win streak to seven with a 116-99 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves before a sellout crowd at Oracle Arena.
Kevin Durant scored 33 points, Stephen Curry 28 and Klay Thompson 22 as the Warriors overcame a four-point deficit after three quarters.
Here are three takeaways from the victory:
Too many live-ball turnovers
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All four All-Stars heaved at least one horribly errant pass. Curry completely lost control of his dribble not once but twice. For most of the most of the night the turnovers kept coming, and the Timberwolves kept cashing in.
The Warriors committed a total of 16 giveaways, leading to 17 Minnesota points. Durant committed four, and so did Curry and Draymond Green. Thompson had two more.
What made it worse for the Warriors was that the Timberwolves committed only one turnover through three quarters and four for the game. The Warriors scored only six points off Minnesota gifts.
The season-high for points off Warriors turnovers was 24 by the New Orleans Pelicans two days earlier. The Timberwolves were on pace to get there before the Warriors tightened things up down the stretch.
The Warriors did a tremendous job of keeping the Timberwolves closer than they should have been.
Might be time to launch a few more triples
Though they shoot the 3-ball well, only twice in their 10 games have the Warriors attempted more triples than their opponent. They didn't on Friday and it almost cost them.
The Timberwolves took an 87-83 lead into the fourth quarter largely because of their frequent long-distance shooting; they were 12-of-34, the Warriors 9-of-23. Minnesota had a nine-point lead (36-27) off its 3-point shooting.
The Warriors came back in the fourth, firing 11 shots from beyond the arc, making four of them. Moreover, they did a much better job of defending the arc, limiting Minnesota to 1 of 11 in the final 12 minutes.
Thanks to that fourth-quarter turnaround, both teams ended with 13 makes from deep.
They owned the glass
With so many turnovers going the other way and so many open 3-pointers going down against them, the Warriors needed to dominate somewhere.
They did it on the glass.
The Warriors posted a whopping 61-39 rebounding advantage, with Durant grabbing 13. Green and Curry hauled in nine boards apiece and Alfonzo McKinnie hauled in eight.
It's hard to get outshot 101-88 when you have 22 more rebounds than your opponent. Blame the turnovers, because that's the explanation.
