Dub Nation HQ wins third SF Press Club award; Curry will return against Timberwolves Friday

DNHQ After Dark is here to talk dynasties in basketball and blogging.

Great news folks, Dub Nation HQ took home a third San Francisco Press Club award in four years, winning bronze in the highly competitive COLUMNS-SPORTS Print/Digital - Small Newsroom category.

The trophies never get old. To have our community honored amongst the greatest of Bay Area journalists is truly a dream come true. Thank you for showing love to our work!! After not placing last year, this award is a reminder that dynasties take time to come to fruition, and after three awards in four years we can officially say that Dub Nation HQ is at the top of the blog game like the Hamptons 5 Warriors.

And with that great power comes great responsibility. That’s why since the award was announced I’ve been thinking about how to best lean into our new prestige as accomplished basketball creatives. Really, I have.

Recently I penned some relatively controversial pieces, including maniacally celebrating how the Dubs own Cleveland’s soul forever after whupping the Cavaliers in Cleveland without Steph Curry. I also viciously opined on how trash the L.A. Clippers generally are as a staff, record label and crew (bonus points if you know which 2Pac song that’s from). Some valued DNHQ community members gently suggested maybe I don’t need to talk about owning souls and destroying franchises quite so enthusiastically.

The legendary DNHQ subscriber tempprofile mentioned, “I’d never want to gloat too much as the reason the Warriors have had so much success is that they have Steph Curry and the other 29 teams didn’t. That was literally the luck of the draw and a couple of poor choices by the T-Wolves.”

Totally fair point. We’re a blessed dynasty that used to be a decrepit franchise; humility can never go out of style. And that’s why I love about being a proud member of a gritty fanbase that roots for a superstar whose own coach described him as both humble and arrogant:

“He’s humble and cocky at the same time -- which is why we like him,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said back on April 2, 2017 after Curry dropped 42 points on the Washington Wizards. “He’s a very humble, modest human being -- which the guys respect.

“And he’s an arrogant basketball player, which is what you need to be a superstar. He believes in himself, and he goes out there and he’s looking to light it up every night. Take him off the floor and you won’t find a kinder, gentler human being. It’s a pretty powerful force.”

What a gift it is to support and document the career of one of the greatest athletes of all time in Mr. Curry. And folks, good news, he’s coming back after a long layoff to meet those aforementioned Timber Wolves Friday night at home in Chase Center! Haha awesome, you know what, I’m gonna do something I haven’t done in a long time. I’m going to venture outside of the friendly fortress that is the HQ and check out what’s happening in the world of our next opponent. Let me check the schedule here…says we’re playing the Timberwolves, cool!

Let’s check out SB Nation’s Canis Hoopus for their preview of Friday’s tilt. Looking forward to learning what’s been happening with the team that made the Western Conference Finals last year! Here’s what they said:

Steph Curry isn’t the same Steph who ruined the league for a decade, but he’s still… well, Steph. The Wolves know firsthand how much gravity he brings. The Warriors were actively dismantling them in Game 1 last playoffs until Curry limped off with a hamstring injury. From that moment on, Minnesota tore through them like a buzz saw.

Steph is currently listed as a game-time decision, but if he plays? All hands on deck. The mission is simple: Don’t let Steph break your defense so thoroughly that Buddy Hield and Jonathan Kuminga suddenly morph into Klay and Draymond circa 2016.

If the Wolves have to pick their poison, Steph bombs or wide-open shooters, this could get ugly. Golden State may be older, slower, sadder, and more confused than they’ve been in a decade… but Curry still has nostalgia nights in him.

Minnesota can’t let Friday be one.

Golden State is old, thin, beatable, and holding on by the string of Curry’s greatness.

If the Wolves are serious? If they’re learning? If they’re growing up? They go into the Chase Center, correct Monday’s mistakes, play disciplined basketball, and walk out with win No. 16.

…I beg your pardon?

Wait, when did the Warriors dynasty become some sort of washed-up relic clinging to past glory while Minnesota ascends to their rightful throne?? Like Steph Curry returning from a five-game absence with a thigh contusion is supposed to be some charity case nostalgic comeback story instead of the arguably the greatest point guard in basketball history flipping the switch back on.

And just like that, when I tried to straighten up and fly right and be an unbiased reporter, that gold blood has begun boiling in my veins. They got me messed up. THEY’RE TURNING ME BACK INTO THE OLD ME.

Golden State Warriors vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
When: December 12th, 2025 | 7:00 PM PT
TV: NBC Sports Bay Area, NBA TV
Radio: 95.7 The Game

Let’s flashback to what the homey tempprofile said earlier: the Warriors are great partially because they built a dynasty on the bones of the Timberwolves’ organizational incompetence. The receipts are immaculate. Let’s run through “The Final Accounting” one more time for the people in the back.

• In 2009, the Timberwolves passed on Stephen Curry twice. Not once. Twice. They handed Golden State a dynasty cornerstone like it was a clearance rack sweater they didn’t want.

• Fast forward to 2018, and they mismanaged Jimmy Butler so spectacularly that they created the NBA’s most motivated villain.

• Then in 2020, they traded Andrew Wiggins and a pick that became Jonathan Kuminga for D’Angelo Russell, essentially gifting the Warriors two key championship pieces.

• And now in 2025? The Warriors converted that same Wiggins into Butler, forming a superteam partially constructed from Minnesota’s own castoffs.

The Timberwolves haven’t just helped build Golden State’s success. They’ve been the architects of their own torture, brick by brick, draft pick by draft pick, trade by trade.

And yet somehow, we’re old and trash now? Because we started 13-12? Because Steph missed five games and in those games the Warirors only went 3-2, including a loss to the 21-1 defending champion Thunder and a 1-point loss on the road to the 76ers? Let me tell you what actually happened during those five games. The Warriors went to Cleveland and Chicago and won, held four of their last five opponents below 100 points, and climbed to the second best defensive rating in the entire NBA.

Without their best player! That’s not a team in decline. That’s a team finding its identity, powered by the will of Pat Spencer, building something real while waiting for the nuclear codes to return.

Minnesota comes to Chase Center with a fine record of 15-9, but three of Minnesota’s last four losses on the season have come to Golden State’s Pacific Division brethren, including one to the 6-19 Kings and two to the Suns. In fact, in Minnesota’s last game they felt the sting of a genuinely embarrassing home loss to Phoenix. The Suns were missing Devin Booker and Jalen Green and still got a win led by world beaters like Colin Gillespie, Dillon Brooks, and Mark Williams. Minnesota star guard Anthony Edwards scored 40 and they still lost at home!

So the Warriors can’t get one against these Wolves huh? Really? With a rested Curry?

The Warriors didn’t lose in last year’s second round to Minnesota because the Wolves suddenly figured something out. It was because the single most important player in the series was sitting on the bench in street clothes.

The Timberwolves have size advantages everywhere. Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid should dominate the paint. Anthony Edwards is one of the league’s most dynamic scorers (he’s questionable with right foot soreness). This is a legitimately talented team with real championship aspirations. But talent doesn’t mean anything if you can’t maintain focus. If you can’t avoid trap games against depleted opponents. If your defensive anchor gets himself ejected because he can’t control his emotions.

Hmmm maybe Draymond was right to strangle this clearly hostile giant out in an act of preemptive self defense.

If Minnesota wanted to make Friday night’s contest a statement game about the new West hierarchy about how Golden State’s time has passed and it’s their turn now? Cool. The Warriors are more than happy to have that conversation. But they’re going to have it with Steph Curry on the floor. Let’s see these old, brittle, washed Warriors play a little roundball against these mighty young Wolves. Who knows, maybe the Dubs can keep it within 16 points.

Thank you HQ for being you, never stop. Can’t wait to watch Friday’s game with you.