With the Golden State Warriors maintaining a nine-point lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team was entering their after-timeout (ATO) play with Stephen Curry bringing the ball up the floor and Quinten Post trailing closely behind. De’Anthony Melton moved toward the wing to receive a pass from Curry, then quickly passed the ball to Post at the top of the arc. Meanwhile, Curry made a “shallow” cut to the opposite wing.

While the top action was unfolding, there was another layer of play happening beneath the rim, as Gui Santos received a cross-screen from Will Richard:

The purpose of this secondary action soon became clear. With Richard setting the screen, Santos moved up to set a ball screen for Curry. The screen’s goal was to create confusion below in order to generate space above. Naz Reid insisted on fighting over the screen to stay on Santos. Reid expected the cross-screen to be an attempt to get Santos the ball on the right block, so he stopped just short of the right block. However, Santos did not take that route:

With Reid forced to guard the ball-screen action for Curry, the Wolves defaulted to sending two defenders on Curry, leaving the right corner open for Curry and Santos to exploit. As expected, Curry passed the ball to the rolling Santos, who saw only Anthony Edwards in his path. Edwards stepped up to help on the roll but fell victim to a clever up-fake by Santos, who secured an open layup.

By his standards, Curry had a subpar shooting game: 26 points on 7-of-18 shooting (3-of-10 on threes). He added seven assists, four steals, and still managed a decent true shooting percentage of 59.2 percent. The Warriors outscored the Wolves by 16 points during Curry’s 27 minutes and 38 seconds on the floor.

Curry did his job despite the less-than-stellar shooting numbers. However, he was greatly supported by the players around him. Santos made an impression during the possession described earlier, but his greatest impact came when Curry was off the floor, alongside a second-unit squad that included De’Anthony Melton, Al Horford, Quinten Post, Buddy Hield, Brandin Podziemski, and Will Richard.

Amazingly, different configurations of the non-Steph crew managed to generate enough offense to carry them through without their primary offensive threat — and without their other offensive anchor, who is currently sidelined due to an ACL injury.

Podziemski’s downhill momentum and paint touch were highlighted when preceded by a Melton slot cut and a dribble handoff by Post, which collapsed the Wolves’ defense toward the drive. Reid helped off the corner, leaving Bones Hyland as the remaining defender guarding the “two-side” (the side of the floor with two offensive players occupying the corner and the wing). Hield’s lift drew Hyland toward him, leaving Santos open. Podziemski promptly kicked out to create an open corner look.

The flow that the non-Curry contingent was able to muster was impressive, even while the Warriors blended complexity with simplicity. The Melton-Horford duo stood out particularly well in their pick-and-roll actions.

The initial Melton-Horford screening action didn’t immediately create an advantage, but it helped set up what came later. Julius Randle was forced to switch onto Melton, who stayed put in the right corner after giving up possession (and making Randle the “tag” man in a pick-and-roll situation). A Hield-Horford pick-and-roll lured Randle away from Melton in an attempt to tag the rolling Horford, who then kicked the ball out toward the open Melton for a three-pointer.

Other instances of the Melton-Horford pick-and-roll resulted in simpler outcomes born from straightforward processes:

Horford coaxed Donte DiVincenzo to switch onto him after the screen and slipped toward the rim to take advantage of DiVincenzo’s top-side position. Edwards attempted to bump DiVincenzo off of Horford via a “scram” switch, but Edwards was still significantly smaller than Horford. In the end, the switch did little to help, and Melton found Horford on the entry pass for a layup without much trouble.

With a defense that was performing exceptionally well across the board — they forced the Wolves into 25 turnovers (a turnover percentage of) and scored 25 points off those turnovers — the Warriors entered the game clearly prepared to execute their defensive gameplan, with the effort and intensity to match. Despite a Wolves squad that may have been affected by tragic events the previous day, the Warriors approached the game with a business-like mindset.

With Moses Moody unable to get past DiVincenzo’s screen, Draymond Green stepped up to meet Edwards around the handoff. His sudden switch and jump toward Edwards forced the Wolves superstar to pass the ball immediately toward Rudy Gobert. However, with Podziemski having switched onto Gobert, the pass was deflected and ultimately intercepted, with Gobert committing a foul to add insult to injury.

This, along with other sharp defensive possessions, contributed to a night where the Warriors held the Wolves to 83.3 points per 100 possessions — their worst offensive game of the season — while also recording their second-best defensive performance of the season in terms of points allowed per 100 possessions. With Melton and Horford reportedly being held out for the rematch tomorrow night — and Curry’s status also uncertain — it was crucial for the Warriors to come out of this unexpected back-to-back slate with at least one win. Mission accomplished, although a win tomorrow night would be a nice bonus.