San Antonio resisted a hot start led by All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns and suffocating wolves shooting, and despite the great run in the final stretch, the teams offered spectators extra basketball in overtime. The Spurs managed to pair enough stops at the Wolves’ stars while getting clutch kicks from DeMar DeRozan, Keldon Johnson and Patty Mills to hold Minnesota. The loss pushed Minnesota further into the hold of the Western Conference. The Spurs changed their road record to 4-1 this season and 3-0 this trip.
Towns (25 points and 13 rebounds) and Malik Beasley (29 points and 4 rebounds) lead the way for the Timberwolves. San Antonio was led by the scoring efforts of DeMar DeRozan (38 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists) and Dejounte Murray (22 points and 14 rebounds – also the best of the season). The teams continue their brief series of two games tomorrow night and we can only hope that we will have a similar type of effort and result.
Comments
- Would the lime green on the Wolves’ shirts be a good Fiesta color?
- Entering the game, LaMarcus Aldridge qualified in 65th place in the entire league in post-up touches: an initial proof that he is taking up more space away from painting than ever before.
- Lonnie Walker IV seemed to heed timely suggestions for improvement. He finished the first half of a baseline drive worthy of predecessor Sean Elliott with a left-handed layout.
- Keldon’s Kitchen: Thanks to a strange execution in the middle of the court, Johnson fearlessly gave the first three (!) Throws from behind the hoop (twice at the end of the clock), making two of them. In one of Johnson’s patented driving layups, the seat of the Wolves adamantly shouted at Juancho Hernangomez “without fail!” In a race towards the end of the first half, Johnson dragged three Wolves to the edge with him to get even more free throws.
- DeMar DeRozan’s footwork is something to see. During the second period, DeRozan played Jake Layman on a rope while pulling a free throw and free throw. He followed with a great eurostep layout – through meaningful contact without a call from the arbitrators. If DeRozan hit up to 70% of the number of fouls and free throws his mentor Kobe Bryant won …
- Night Sequence: In the middle of the third, Murray attracted several wolves to him in the transition and found a DeRozan striated for a high dunk.
- Devin’s Deeds: At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Vassell cornered an obstinate Mills miss amidst a thicket of wolves and quickly found Patty for an open three.
- While other NBA teams have placed title banners behind their baskets, Minnesota has … four luxury cars.
- Wolves analyst Jim Petersen praised Spurs’ technical assistant Becky Hammon as the toughest opponent for which he had to prepare as a former Lynx coach. Petersen later compared Pop to “Gandalf the Mage”.
- Wolves rookie Anthony Edwards appears to have yet to discover the speed of the live game – hitting three bricks on the glass and looking unsure in the first half. He seemed more stable and assertive in the second, however.
- For Spurs fans of a certain age, does Vassell’s shooting form resemble former swingman Willie Anderson?
- Galvanized by the return of Towns, the Wolves managed to find ample space at the edge and at a distance – with Malik Beasley the biggest winner in the central game of their center. Johnson, from San Antonio, scored 10 points with an excellent kick and his bank temporarily closed the deficit to two in one point. Naz Reid capped a quarter of the Wolves’ sizzling shots (69% and 6-to-6 out of three) with one shot to make 34-28.
- DeRozan placed himself on the score sheet frequently to start the second. San Antonio played better on the defensive lines – took the lead for a brief period of 9-0. Both teams exchanged baskets for the rest of the time and San Antonio reduced it by two – thanks to the favorable free throw and disparity of points in the play – while resisting Minnesota’s strong kick.
- Walker IV’s retreat three after the break gave San Antonio its biggest advantage of the night. DeRozan continued his shot across the court, while Towns stood out against the Spurs greats in painting and offensive boards with some success. Minnesota attracted Spurs for the bonus and Aldridge for the problem. Rudy Gay landed his first four shots to help maintain San Antonio’s lead. The Wolves ended the period with a 10-0 run (highlighting two unexplained 3-point Reid) to regain the lead.
- A pair of three Mills allowed the Spurs to take the lead for a short time. Both teams exchanged clues during most of the final verse. Towns acted as a distributor for the job like Tim Duncan, while San Antonio relied heavily on DeRozan’s creativity.
- In the frantic final minutes, the Spurs’ enemy, Ricky Rubio, redirected a rebound to Edwards for an open three to make the Wolves two. Aldridge converted 1 to 2 on the line. DeAngelo Russell hit an open jumper. DeRozan converted consecutive shots of high degree of difficulty in the paint and the rim to put the Spurs up two momentarily. The cities connected in a final three to increase them by one and DeRozan responded with another difficult float. Russell hit a three-clutch kick to make it 113-111. Soiled by a quick blow to the Wolves’ defense, DeRozan converted the two free throws to tie. Russell was unable to connect to Mills in Minnesota’s last attempt at regulation.
- In overtime, Aldridge was able to persuade Towns to a travel violation. The Spurs worked around the Wolves’ zone with a Murray three, a Johnson putback and a Mills three. A Towns dunk reduced the Spurs’ lead to four. DeRozan somehow found Mills in the left corner for a microsecond jump absolutely possible to make 125-119. Beasley connected from a distance to reduce to three. Aldridge redirected an errant pass from Edwards in the air and Mills went down with the carom to secure the victory.
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Both teams return to the Target Center in less than 24 hours to finish both sets of games on Sunday night at 7pm CDT.