Warriors admit they have finishing problem after narrow win over Timberwolves

MINNEAPOLIS — In five games, the Warriors have held double-digit leads in the fourth quarter three times.Their winning percentage in such contests? Well, let’s just say it’s not 1.000.Golden State went up by 24 midway early in the second half Wednesday night against the Timberwolves, still led by 11 with 2:16 to play and still barely hung on to win, 119-114.And yet, in Steve Kerr’s eyes? It’s all positive.“We didn’t do a good job closing, but … I kind of liked what happened,” Kerr said.

“Because we need to learn from it.”Golden State also led 106-94 with 3:41 left this past Friday against the Grizzlies.In that one, the Warriors’ offense went comatose and they allowed Memphis to mount a 17-0 run to steal a win.So, you could say they’re making progress, at least.The Grizzlies loss dropped them to 0-3, their worst start since 2007-08.

They risked returning home 2-4, off a 1-2 road trip, as they watched Minnesota cut their 24-point lead down to four.“There’s a slight bit of relief,” Steph Curry said of improving to 2-3 on the season after their poor start, “but there’s still an understanding that the Memphis game in the second half, tonight mostly in the fourth quarter, we know we can play better.”The Timberwolves, missing Anthony Edwards, weren’t able to pull off the same stunner that Memphis did.But they put up enough of a fight to set off alarm bells in the Warriors locker room.The closest they got came after a sloppy offensive possession that ended in a missed 3 from Curry, allowing Jonathan Kuminga to set up Ayo Dosunmu for a 3 on the other end.Dosunmu’s triple cut the Warriors’ lead to 116-112 with 45 seconds left.But the game began to turn long before that.Curry got to the line for two of his eventual 16 free throws to put Golden State up 73-50 a little less than 3 minutes into the third quarter.

Then Draymond Green threw the ball away, Yaxel Lendeborg got his pocket picked twice in three possessions and Curry steppe...