NBA Week 24 Rewind: Who has momentum for the playoffs?

The Key Games and Results of Week 24

At this late stage of the season, most games typically have playoff ramifications, deciding which matchups we see and who may sneak in as the 8th seed. For the Warriors, each win is purely another step along the road to making more history as they pursue the previously unreachable mark of 73 wins.

Many of those have come at home, seeing as they held a 54-0 winning streak in Oracle Arena that spanned well over a year. Until Brad Stevens’ scrappy Celtics took the champs down 109-106 in the Roaracle on April 1, no one had defeated the Warriors there since January 27, 2015. Of course, Boston were a major underdog, and in Week 24, an even less-favored underdog triumphed.

After a slow start and losing the first quarter 28-19, the Timberwolves struggled through the early stages of the game. They couldn’t keep up with the Warriors’ fluid ball movement and threats from all over the floor, going down by 17 points again half way through the third quarter.

The end of the night was a showcase of their young core’s emerging talent and potential, though, with Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Shabazz Muhammad all showcasing what they have to offer. In particular, it was the last three who shined.

Over the latter part of the third quarter, Wiggins and Muhammad combined for 22 straight points for the Timberwolves. As the game went on, Muhammad (finished with a season-high 35 points on 9-of-12 shooting) was aggressive attacking the basket and worked well in the post, while Wiggins (finished with 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting) found his shot from outside, confidently firing against the Warriors’ elite defense.

As for Towns, he ended up with his typical numbers of 20 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks, switching onto Curry with impressive success whenever his team required him to do so as well.

The Timberwolves cut that 17-point third quarter deficit to three by the time two minutes of the fourth had transpired, and continued with their momentum into overtime. In fact, as they took the extra five minutes 18-11, the Timberwolves broke the Warriors’ 6-0 record in overtime periods this season, furthering the champs’ random trend of losing to teams who can’t even make the playoffs.

But as Towns came up with a couple of huge drives to the basket in the final moments, the young T-Wolves ensured that trend would reappear in startling fashion.

The Warriors may have lost to teams like the Timberwolves, Nuggets, Lakers and Bucks, but they’ve overcome the toughest challenge they needed to down the stretch as that unprecedented 73rd win is almost within their grasp.

After a 112-101 victory against the Spurs on April 7 and a 92-86 victory on April 10, the Warriors claimed the season series over their toughest Western opponents 3-1. It’s a highly impressive margin even though this is only the regular season, speaking to how good the Warriors are against the best and how well they defended their home court against them, going 2-0 at Oracle Arena.

Stephen Curry managed to find his interior game against the Spurs again, weaving past for a flurry of floaters and layups on Sunday as he caught fire for 37 points on 13-of-22 shooting. And with only four three-pointers, a rather modest mark for the NBA’s most prolific shooter, the success inside the arc can help the rest of the Warriors so much as he draws the attention of multiple defenders while possessing the passing touch to find open shooters or cutters.

On Sunday, the Warriors’ defense rose to the occasion to support Curry’s offensive leadership, holding the Spurs to 37.8 percent shooting and a 3-of-17 mark from three. The Warriors also took control of the boards in both games this week, coming out on top with a combined 96-78 margin.

Despite Curry and Co. winning the last two contests, though, there’s no doubt that with Gregg Popovich’s adjustments come playoff time, the team’s experience and stellar defense, the Spurs can go toe-to-toe with the Warriors.

If we get the Western Conference Finals matchup that we all want, a Warriors-Spurs showdown is going to be quite a spectacle to remember.

A 123-109 loss to the Pacers earlier in the week was discouraging enough for the Cavaliers. They may have been without LeBron James which undoubtedly left a huge hole in the team, but the rest coming up so short against a team at the bottom of the playoff seeding isn’t exactly what the Cavs need at this stage of the season.

LeBron’s return in Chicago still wasn’t enough, though. He couldn’t be faltered too much either, especially after finishing with 33 points on 13-of-17 shooting and seven rebounds. If anything, his three assists to four turnovers was another representation of the Cavs’ inconsistency. Over the previous four games they had averaged 30 assists, moving the ball swiftly, getting everyone involved in the offense, and burying double-digit threes with ease.

However, against the Bulls, the Cavs tallied only 15 assists, allowed 26 points off their 15 turnovers, and lost their composure in the fourth quarter. After holding a three-point lead at the start of the final period, they quickly let the Bulls lead by seven within the next four minutes.

Kyrie Irving was at serious fault with three key turnovers in the final period, and didn’t hold back with his take after the game (per Dave McMenamin of ESPN):

"“”I was just real s—-y with the basketball, that’s all… I just got to do a better job just leading the unit,” Irving said. “Just in general, just getting guys in positions and making sure our spacing is great every single time, and we’re running plays that are necessarily tailored for that second unit. Got to go back and look at film and just find a package, so when we’re out there, no matter who is out there with me — obviously, Shump [Iman Shumpert] is usually out there with me on that second unit — but tonight is one of those nights, a learning lesson.”"

You can learn from mistakes all the time, and a team can always be perfecting elements of its game at either end of the floor. But to an injured, 9th seed Bulls team who have been a wreck for some time, a “learning lesson” shouldn’t be what you’re experiencing just days before the playoffs begin.

And when you’re hoping to return to the NBA Finals and defeat what could be the first 73-win team in history, you need to be past the stage where you’re looking to learn and improve as a unit.

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