With this team, the wins may never come easy.

After three quarters against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night, the Warriors led by 17 points. They were up by as much as 24 at one point. It felt like maybe, just once, they could turn in a blowout win, especially with Karl-Anthony Towns inactive for the game.

That blowout did not happen. The offense got careless. Decisions got worse as players took poor shots and made bad passes. The Timberwolves, after a horrid start, finally began hitting field goals. Before long, it was a six-point game and it looked like the Warriors could blow it and lose any momentum they might have carried over from Friday night’s win against the New Orleans Pelicans.

But the players stepped up, caught a few breaks and did just enough to prevent Minnesota from completing the comeback, pulling out a 113-104 win. They improved to 7-24 and have put together a winning streak for the first time this year.

“We just needed to win a couple of games in a row just to get a little momentum and feel good,” Steve Kerr said after the win.

Although a full team effort was needed to complete the victory, one player emerged above all the rest, and that player was Alec Burks. He scored from all over the floor and got to the line repeatedly, which led to a line of 25 points on just 13 field goal attempts. He delivered some huge timely buckets down the stretch to keep the Timberwolves at an arm’s distance. He also assumed the role of distributor, which he has not done much this season. But he constantly made good choices with the ball as he led the team with eight assists against just one turnover.

“My teammates just put me in the right positions, [the] coaching staff puts me in the right positions,” he said. “Steve trusts me with the ball in my hands to make plays for myself and others.”

It wasn’t just Burks who played well. A variety of players contributed in some way. For example, Willie Cauley-Stein stuffed the stat sheet, making six of his eight field goal attempts and posting 12 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals. D’Angelo Russell, who has struggled to score efficiently on a consistent basis this season, scored 30 points on 18 shot attempts and has now dropped 82 points across two matchups with Minnesota this season.

After a rough first quarter for both teams, the second and third quarters saw a period of Warriors domination. They played fantastic defense, never letting the Timberwolves develop a consistent rhythm on offense. At the same time, they found a flow of their own on offense, moving the ball nicely and putting up solid shooting numbers across the board with good percentages on twos, threes and free throws. They led by 14 at halftime and that lead reached 24 with 2:45 remaining in the third as it seemed the Warriors were well on the way to a win.

But with an inexperienced team that doesn’t have a lot of players who can be counted on to play consistently well for an entire game, no lead is ever safe. Sure enough, it was quickly clear that the big lead had made the Warriors complacent. They stopped giving the effort that had gotten them to that point. They threw lazy passes and took rushed, tightly contested shots without moving the ball or using enough of the clock. Two-way guard Jordan McLaughlin, who the Warriors couldn’t have possibly anticipated would be a factor coming into the game, erupted in the second half. Out of nowhere, he became Minnesota’s best player on both offense and defense and finished with 19 points, four assists and three steals. He started the comeback as Andrew Wiggins and Gorgui Dieng also stepped up. The lead was just six with 7:07 left in the fourth quarter, a margin that the Timberwolves reached a few more times in the final frame.

Fortunately for the Warriors, they got their act together just in time. They played better defense and were more patient and cautious on offense. Burks, Russell and Damion Lee all hit massive shots to maintain and expand the lead, Draymond Green led the defensive effort, the Timberwolves missed a few very makeable shots, and the Warriors made their free throws to make up for a couple of dumb late fouls of their own and pick up the win.

A two-game winning streak is a strange thing to celebrate, especially when considering that, as recently as last season, a two-game losing streak was a cause for concern. Green, who has never missed the playoffs in his NBA career, acknowledged this during his postgame press conference.

“I never thought I’d be so excited about two regular season wins in my life,” he said.

But with this Warriors team, it’s all about progress and taking steps in the right direction. Two wins does exactly that, and it’s been fun to watch too.