It used to feel like a daunting task to go into San Francisco and have to take on Golden State. It was the type of game fans would chalk up as a loss ahead of time. They’re the Warriors. At home, they were invincible.

Frankly, throughout Minnesota’s 116-110 victory Sunday in California, the Wolves looked like the significantly better team.

Part of that is because Golden State is no longer the big, bad Warriors. They lean heavily on the aging Steph Curry, and don’t have much surrounding him as Klay Thompson and Draymond Green regress and the Warriors haven’t found nor developed pieces around the older core to pick up the slack.

But another, major part of the equation is how good Minnesota appears to be. The Wolves’ top nine players look like significantly superior players in totality versus Golden State’s rotation.

So while Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns are vitally important to Minnesota’s success — Edwards finished with 33 points Sunday, while Towns played a masterful game in which he finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot — the difference between Minnesota and its foes so often rests with everyone else.

Rudy Gobert again dominated the defensive interior, finishing with 10 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots. Mike Conley had nine assists. Jaden McDaniels scored 13 points. Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker each contributed 10 points off the bench, while Kyle Anderson was a perfect 4 for 4 from the field.

Everyone combines together to play consistently dominant defense.

As a unit, Minnesota (7-2) — which has won six straight games — has the feel of the dominant team against which opponents are likely to add a loss.

Golden State simply didn’t have the firepower Sunday to go blow for blow with Minnesota. The Warriors (6-5) had Curry, who tallied 38 points, and no one else. The rest of the rotational players around him combined to go 22 for 65 from the field, including 5 for 28 from distance. Minnesota does that to teams defensively, and no one else does it to the Wolves.

Golden State was able to hang around in the first half but did not sustain anything. Minnesota was hurting itself with turnovers and by allowing too many second-chance opportunities.

Finally, come the third quarter, the Wolves pulled away with a dominant defensive effort. The game was never truly in doubt from there.

Green was up to his usual barking throughout the contest, but there was no bite to be found as the Wolves ripped the Warriors to shreds.

And still, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch noted Minnesota “left a lot of meat on the bone” Sunday.

“That’s not to say that we expect to win easily or anything like that,” Finch told reporters. “But when you get outrebounded, you turn it over and you don’t make the obvious play, that’s a lot of room for growth right there. When we did it, we looked really good. We’ve just got to focus on those moments and keep extending those. But we’ve got to keep getting better through winning.”

These two teams play again Tuesday in San Francisco. And while the Warriors may bounce back and settle the score in that bout, it’s just as likely Minnesota may be just as, if not more, imposing. That’s what superior teams do.

That’s the new reality in the Western Conference.

The power has shifted.