After a Stephen Curry flurry sealed the team’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, it was Kelly Oubre Jr. and the Warriors’ bench that lifted the squad over the same Timberwolves team to win Wednesday’s game at Chase Center 123-111.

In a very un-Stephen-Curry-like start, the Dubs’ two-time MVP went scoreless until there were 8.7 seconds left in the second quarter. And yet the Warriors entered halftime up 58-51 thanks to early scoring from James Wiseman and Kent Bazemore and a career quarter from Oubre.

Bazemore entered the game early after Oubre sat with two quick fouls, and the veteran responded with seven points off the bench in the first quarter. “It’s all about staying ready,” he said at halftime. It was that preparation that served as a big momentum shift in a game where both teams struggled to make shots early, each starting the game 1-for-9 from the floor.

Wiseman also came off the bench for the second straight game and responded equally as strong with eight first quarter points, including consecutive 3-pointers, and finishing the first half with 14. But fueling the first half for the Warriors was Oubre: After coming back in the game following his early foul trouble, he went off for a career-high 16 points in the second quarter on a perfect shooting half while adding four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block.

From there, it was all Warriors as the squad took their seven-point halftime lead and pushed it to as high as 25 through the third quarter, including 12 points from Curry en route to a 16 point night.

Bazemore’s early seven points were what he would finish with to go with three rebounds and two steals, while Oubre almost had himself a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. Wiseman had a career night with a new high of 25 points with six rebounds and two blocked shots.

After splitting their first two two-game, back-to-back series of the season against the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers, Wednesday completed the Warriors’ first sweep of such a set in the 2020-21 campaign. But the Warriors are right back at is as the squad hits the road to play the Suns on Thursday night in Phoenix (7 p.m., NBCSBA, TNT).

Honoring Kobe Bryant, One Year Later
With Tuesday marking the one-year anniversary of the tragic helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, along with seven others in Southern California, a trio of Warriors guards paid tribute to the Bryants with special sneaker designs. Stephen Curry, Kent Bazemore and Damion Lee all wore custom pairs of Under Armour’s Curry 8s depicting images of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, with Curry paying homage to the proud girl dad connection he shared with Kobe.

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More Notables …

• Golden State falls to 5-4 at home this season, snapping its season-high tying two-game winning streak… The Warriors have won two-straight games four times this season.
• Tonight marked the final game of the Warriors second back-to-back set this season and are 1-1 in the second game. The Warriors swept one set and split one.
• The Warriors committed a season-low 10 turnovers (previous: 11, twice).
• Golden State made 38.4 percent of their shots from the field and fall to 0-5 when shooting under 40 percent as a team this season… The Warriors shot under 25 percent from three (23.7 percent) and fall to 0-3 this season when recording such a number.
• Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the 80-combined free throws attempted tonight (New York with 41 and Golden State had 39) are the most in a single game this season… Tonight also marks a record for combined free throws attempted at Chase Center… The Knicks 41 free throws attempted also marks an opponent record at Chase Center.
• Golden State made a season-high tying 29 free throws (also made 29 on 1/1 vs. POR).
• The Warriors allowed a first quarter season-high tying 40 points to the Knicks (40 first quarter points also allowed on 12/22 at BKN)… Tonight marked the third time this season the Warriors have given up 40 points in any quarter (1-2 in those games).
• Stephen Curry played in his 714th career game, breaking a tie with Paul Arizin (713), and capturing sole possession of fourth place on the Warriors all-time games played list… Jeff Mullins is third with 716 games… Curry has scored 30-or-more points seven times this season after scoring a game-high 30 points tonight… Golden State owns a 5-2 record when Curry scores 30-plus this season. Curry connected on five 3-pointers tonight, bringing his career total to 2,557, three shy of Reggie Miller (2,560) for the second-most in NBA history. Ray Allen is first with 2,973 career 3-pointers.
• Eric Paschall, playing in his 74th career game, scored his 1,000th career point (12 points tonight)… According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Paschall (selected in the second round – 41st overall – of the 2019 NBA Draft)
  became the fastest Warriors’ second-round selection in the Modern Draft era history (since 1966) to reach 1,000 career points in the fewest amount of games (Gilbert Arenas scored his 1000th career point in his 79th game).
• Draymond Green recorded eight assist in tonight’s first half, the most assists by a Warrior in any half this season (previous: 7, multiple times)… He was ejected with 1:04 to play in the second quarter (two technical fouls). It was his 11th career ejection.
• Andrew Wiggins grabbed a season-high tying nine rebounds and tallied 17 points, scoring double figures in every game this season.
• Nico Mannion appeared in his second-career game, scoring his first NBA point, sinking a free throw with 1:35 to play in the fourth quarter… He dished out a reserve-high four assists.
• James Wiseman tallied 15 points, the third time in his last five games he has scored 15-plus points.

—> Warriors NBA News