The season that Donte DiVincenzo spent with the Splash Brothers helped him build the confidence to take late-game shots like the ones he hit against the Warriors on Friday night, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. DiVincenzo drilled a three-pointer to tie the score with 1:48 remaining and another 80 seconds later to put the game out of reach as the Timberwolves spoiled Stephen Curry‘s return from injury.
“I didn’t shoot the ball well at all tonight, but I could care less if I’m being honest with you,” DiVincenzo said. “My year here changed my entire mindset. Playing with that dude over there, 30 (Curry), it just changed my mindset on my misses, my mindset on my approach. I want the big shot at the end of the game. That’s the mindset I have.”
As Krawczynski notes, DiVincenzo was looking for a new NBA home when he signed a one-year deal with Golden State in the summer of 2022. He had been a starter on Milwaukee’s 2021 championship team, but he was removed from the starting lineup the following season and traded to Sacramento halfway through. Joining the Warriors gave him the chance to learn from Curry and Klay Thompson, picking up their practice habits and their fearlessness about taking clutch shots.
“It changed me, my approach, my mentality, how I process the game, how I live with negatives in my career,” DiVincenzo said. “I think it changed my entire trajectory of my career, and after that, I’ve been who I am.”
There’s more on the Wolves:
- Another flagrant foul for Rudy Gobert any time this season will trigger an automatic suspension, according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune (subscription required). Gobert was whistled for flagrants in back-to-back games over the past week, putting him one flagrant-foul point away from a one-game suspension and two points away from a two-game suspension. He disputed the call in Monday’s game when he was assessed a flagrant foul for making “significant” contact to the ribs of Phoenix center Mark Williams while Williams was airborne. “There was an intent to foul, but I don’t feel like it was meant to really hit him in the rib to hurt him,” Gobert said. “It was more like to take away his momentum and contest the shot. They deemed that it was winding up. I didn’t feel like it. I just felt like it was just maybe a very physical foul. But I hope he’s doing OK. It seems like he was doing OK after that. It was just, to me, a physical basketball play.”
- In the same Star Tribune story, head coach Chris Finch pointed to Terrence Shannon Jr.‘s defensive habits as the reason for the second-year guard’s inconsistent play. “It’s largely rooted in readiness,” Finch explained. “He’s a great athlete. He’s probably spent a lot of his time making up ground with his closing speed. It’s a dangerous habit to get into at this level, the guys that have either equal or greater athleticism, but also teams that execute well and can take advantage of that. So his screen navigation is poor, and that puts him even further behind the play.”
- Anthony Edwards missed Friday’s game due to soreness in his right foot and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s home matchup with Sacramento. Bones Hyland, who left Friday’s contest with a right knee contusion, is also questionable, while Mike Conley has been ruled out with a right Achilles issue.
Randle and Bones Hyland for a good starting PG and a backup C
Turn Naz Reid into the starting PF
We gunna talk about McDaniels straight up tackling Curry, a flagrant 2 ejection type play, and then the corrupt refs called the foul on Curry and then Kerr not challenging it? And then yall question my takes? Everything in one place, right there. Give Steph’s SGA’s coward whistle where he goes within 3 feet of a guy and the corrupt refs call the foul, vs Curry straight up being called a foul for being tackled, and 30 averages 45 PPG. Great. Totally not a rigged league or anything. Replace all these refs with Ai and public choices.
Because Curry and the Warriors haven’t benefited from favourable calls over the years, right?
Nice goalposts moving, troll. So you support guys tackling players and throwing them to the ground now???? Whataboutisms are so worthless, like, shut uppp
Like, lil bro, when the coaches are in the huddle saying “we can do whatever we want to Steph, they aren’t going to call it” thats corruption, plain and simple. Meanwhile you don’t even have to touch SGA and they are calling fouls. Why don’t they let Steph get that whistle? This league is going downhill fast thanks to these corrupt refs.
Warriors are done. It was a great ride, But all dynasties come to an end. Curry is still a star but at 37 he can’t last grind of the NBA regular season playing so many minutes and being the man. Butler is cooked. All that wine and he did in Miami for in a contract extension. He’s not worth $35 or $40 million a year anymore. He can still play and impact as a low level all star. He will be huge in the playoffs. The problem is he can’t compete for the grind of the regular season anymore either at 35. So without young players that carried the team to the playoffs or the warriors would be a threat is at end of the era for them unless the find some miracle to get a player or a couple players that are capable of playing when Curry green or Butler can’t and can hold the four down when they’re off the court.
Blah blah blah you wish, Curry had 39 last night. You said this in 2022 too….no one cares lil bro, move on….
Like, the fact that GSW are literally winning almost all these games they end up losing, like, they win when they play a SF at SF, not a SG at SF. You are just wrong if you think this team can’t still win a title.
GSW wins when they play a PG, SG, SF, PF and C…that lineup will go +20, then dummy Kerr brings out 4 SGs and 1 SF and expects that to play NBA defense. Literally everyone in the NBA knows smallball is over except Steve.
Fire Kerr = GSW wins another title, easy. Kerr is holding the team back by playing 4 undersized guards at once, which is just an idiotic move to do vs Rudy and Randle.
I have to admit. That McDaniels foul on Curry was straight out of the Draymond Green playbook.
But they call the foul ON Draymond, not the poor player he physically abuses! You are ignoring that part
Your team lost to an Edward’s-less team. That makes them really bad.
Yeah, because they are playing their worst players above their better ones, because the head coach is trying to lose games on purpose, because he himself has said winning isn’t important to him. Can you not put one and one together? Kuminga is the team leader in rebounds and has size, yet the moron Kerr decides to replace Draymond with….Buddy Hield? Cmon now.
Obviously that the NBA is a rigged league. That’s why Zaza did what he did to Kwahi when the Warriors are taking a beating from the Spurs at home a few years ago, taking him out of the game and the series. If not for that dirty play your beloved Curry would have one ring less. The Warriors and the Lakers are the last teams that can complain about the NBA being a rigged league.
Yeah sure buddy, why not let players pull out a knife and stab Steph Curry when he has the ball? Lets completely act like in-game accidents are identical to purposely tackling a guy? Whats up with your mind? It appears to be broken.
If Curry was getting touched on his arm by a pinkie finger, you would have a much more valid point. Instead you go the whataboutism route, instead of the “talk about the subject at hand” route. You made up a phony counter argument, instead of answering the question “how is this league not rigged when a Head Coach can tell his players in a timeout that they are ALLOWED to foul Curry, as the refs are purposely not calling any fouls on him?” Grow up lil bro, you got cooked by the Chef, who plays honest hoop, not grifterball, just own it. Or you just like grifterball, which invalidates this pathetic reply guy troll you just made on me.
Why do so many people not know the correct phrase is “couldn’t care less”
i think so many people could care less, the just don’t care to
Almost as bad as ” a whole nother” (nother not being a word) or, this frequent gem of illiteracy here in Minnesota – “yer guyses” – as in “I’d like to hear yer guyses opinion…”.
“irregardless” – you can’t fix stupid
TWolves —— 16–9 ….
Warriors —— 13–13 ….
Nuff Said ……….
Gobert is way too dirty, that foul was deserving of a criminal charge, Williams was airborne!!!
Warriors are awful and without Kerr they are 8-18, not .500. One of the best coaches in the league for a team of old players and G-leagers.
Curry can hit a shot but gets cooked on defense. It’s a totally washed team.
The Warriors beat the Spurs with Wemby in back to back games. This season. They are absolutely finals contenders, as long as Kerr is removed or stays away from small ball. Any take otherwise about GSW struggling in a November is a just a cope and a seethe by a weak mind.