Golden State Warriors vs Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota Timberwolves from the Western Conference and the Golden State Warriors will renew their battle for a playoff spot when they face each other on Thursday in the latter’s home court, the Target Center.

After a bad start to 2025, the home side are aiming to collect their fifth victory out of six games, whereas, the away side has lost four of the five past games.

Following three successive losses when the season resumed in 2005, the Timberwolves came back with three straight wins over the Clippers in the new year, the Pelicans and the Magic before falling to the Grizzlies on Sunday.

Given that they had a heartbreaking loss to the Grizzlies to stew over, Chris Finch and company had limited time to prepare for a match up against the under-performing Washington Wizards at the Capital One Arena on Tuesday, and any results short of a win would be considered a failure.

Having trailed the Timberwolves for the first 36 minutes of the game by only three points, the Clippers had every reason to hope for yet another last quarter comeback were it not for a ferocious finish from the visitors in the last 12 minutes of the match.

Not surprisingly, the leading shooter of the team and shooting guard Anthony Edwards dominated the game with 41 points on 14-25 overall shooting with five 3-pointers in addition to 6 rebounds and 7 assists.The T Wolves are in the eighth place in the West currently standing at a 21 and 18 record in the campaign and the stream ofs games for them are not getting any easier as they loom perhaps one of the toughest stretch of this season for them with fixtures against the Knicks, the Cavaliers and the Grizzlies awaiting them after the next battle.e are looking to win a fifth game in six outings, while the visitors head into this one having lost four of their most recent five matches.

After three consecutive defeats to open the new year, the Minnesota Timberwolves responded with three wins on the bounce against the Los Angeles Clippers, the New Orleans Pelicans and the Orlando Magic before losing out to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

With little time to dwell on an agonising defeat to the Grizzlies, Chris Finch's men took on a struggling Washington Wizards outfit at the Capital One Arena on Tuesday knowing that anything less than a victory would be deemed a bad result.

Leading by just three points after the opening 36 minutes of action, the Timberwolves knew they were in danger of suffering another fourth-quarter heartbreak should they fail to put the contest to bed and obliged with a commanding display in the final 12 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, shooting guard Anthony Edwards was the star of the show once again, tallying a game-high 41 points on 14-25 shooting, including 5-11 from beyond the three-point line, to go along with six rebounds and seven assists.

Now 21-18 for the campaign, the TWolves are currently eighth in the West ahead of arguably their most daunting run this term with games against the Knicks, the Cavaliers and the Grizzlies to follow after their next involvement.

Thursday’s hosts have lost in the two subsequent meetings after they triumphed in this season ‘s first contest against the away side but they now have the chance to split the season series and this may well prove useful later.

The Warriors have been on a downhill spiral for the past eight days after starting 2025 with victories over the Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies by a total score of 42.

Following consecutive losses to the Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings, Steve Kerr's team enjoyed a brief reprieve against the Detroit Pistons before losing to the Indiana Pacers and, most recently, the Toronto Raptors.

The Warriors, who had led for over two-thirds of the game the last time out, lost by a 6-0 run in the last two minutes of play, failing to score a single point following Kyle Anderson's game-winning basket only moments before.

Due to a few teams in and around them beginning to get back on track, the Warriors are currently out of playoff contention and face the possibility of losing out on the postseason.

Thursday's visitors will finally play one of their conference rivals after four consecutive games against Eastern Conference opponents. They are aware that a loss here would put them further behind in the race for a postseason berth.

Terrence Shannon Jr., 24, is expected to miss roughly a month of activity for the Minnesota Timberwolves due to a recent grade 2 midfoot sprain.

However, as he accelerates his recuperation from an ankle injury he sustained earlier this month, Jonathan Kuminga is certain to miss this game for the visiting team.
Although they are both close to returning to action, guards Gary Payton II and Brandin Podziemski are anticipated to miss this game due to calf and abdominal injuries, respectively.