Spurs Update

Friday night the Spurs were in Minnesota for a little revenge against the scrappy young T-Wolves team we were playing when Manu broke his hand. No, I'm certainly not placing any blame here, but they did put it to us pretty good in that game (Jan. 2), 106-96, shooting 58%.. including 57% from three (12 of 21).

Fast forward to tonight. This game went pretty much as you'd expect. Both teams played great defense, as neither team allowed the other to get on too much of a run at any one time. Spurs jumped out to the early 10-2 lead, which was 22-21 by the

Image Source (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

end of the 1st Q. Sets of 4-6 point runs seemed to be the theme in this one, as that early 8-point lead was our largest.

• 31-27, Spurs.. Minnesota timeout.. 36-33, Wolves.. timeout Spurs. Halftime was 42-41, San Antonio.

• 49-44, Wolves.. Spurs' timeout.. Then back & forth throughout most of the third. Not sloppy, turnover-wise, nor bad-shots, just good defense. But Nikola Pekovic was owning us on the low block, for some reason, and it seemed like Tony & Tim were the only ones who could get shots to fall. Tied at 64 after 3 Qs.

Timberwolves pulled away by 6 early in the 4th, countered by Parker making 7 straight for us. Then Pekovic continued more of what he started in the 3rd Q. I'm guessing he took us a little by surprise, as it didn't seem like we were quite prepared for him. A Gary Neal three put us ahead 79-77 with 3:32 left, but then the Spurs decided to go cold. We missed our last 7 shots...

It boiled down to the T-Wolves simply executing better down the stretch.. They scored 10 more to finish us off 87-79. The LOSS could be attributed to the fact that we didn't seem to share the basketball nearly enough tonight (17 assists on 31 FGs, 55%). Compare this to our game vs. Atlanta 2 days ago (29 assists on 42 buckets.. 69%). With Minnesota's execution in the last 4 minutes, I have to give them all the credit. Simple as that.

Tops: Love 18p & 16r.. Pekovic 14p & 10r.. Rubio 18p & 10a. TP 20p &3a.. Splitter 12p & 7r.. Timmy 9p & 10r.


Next two are a back-to-back in both Dallas & Memphis - Sunday & Monday. Which game do you think Duncan will sit? I'd lean toward Dallas, since they've got a lot of players beat-up. But you never know, since right after our day of rest of Tuesday, comes another back-to-back at home against Houston & New Orleans.

Stats & quarter scoring image Via