NBA Update: San Antonio Spurs reduce the Timberwolves to sixth straight loss Friday night
The San Antonio Spurs move past the Minnesota Timberwolves as they reduced them on their home ground 107-101. The game was played at AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX.
Arena stats
The game lasted for a duration of 2:22 and the attendance recorded was 18581.
Scoring
The lead changed 18 times and the game was tied seven times.
Inactive players
The inactive players among Timberwolves were Jonny Flynn, Nikola Pekovic and Martell Webster. The only inactive player among the Spurs was Chris Anderson.
Box Score
Players’ Stats
San Antonio Spurs (16-3)
Tim Duncan scored 22 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, Tony Parker and George Hill scored 20 apiece, Richard Jefferson scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The team grabbed five team rebounds.
Minnesota Timberwolves (4-15)
Michael Beasley scored game high 28 points, Kevin Love scored 25 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, Luke Ridnour and Corey Brewer scored 14 points apiece for the Timberwolves.
In a nutshell
The Timberwolves were reduced to their sixth loss in a row.
Game stats
Timberwolves had 59 rebounds whereas the Spurs had 37. The Minnesota took 24 offensive rebounds and the Spurs had eight. The Timberwolves gave away 17 turnovers and the Spurs gave away 12.
Minnesota Timberwolves took seven fast break points and the Spurs took 16. The Timberwolves took biggest lead with 15 points and the Spurs by seven. The Timberwolves had 44 points in the paint and the San Antonio Spurs succeeded in accomplishing 42.
Bad, bad, bad
The Minnesota Timberwolves have faced the second defeat at the hands of San Antonio Spurs in nine days.
The Spurs showed up a marvellous retreat in the fourth quarter as they forced the Timberwolves into giving them seven turnovers. They popped 14 points off their mistakes. The San Antonio Spurs had 36-15 in the fourth quarter after they failed to close the
last three quarters in own favour. During the final two minutes of each of the three quarters, the Spurs were limited to 25-7 by the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves even went on an 11-0 run to close the third one.
Sweet excuses
The Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis later gave the reason of their loss as he said,
“[We weren't] able to execute in critical junctures of the ballgame, and that's what hurt us -- not having the closer type that we can all trust to do the right things at the right time.”
Turn of events
Beasley was 12 for 21, there were only ten minutes left in the game, and that’s when Beasley injured his right ankle. Timberwolves were at the lead with 87-73. After that, Beasley did return and his team was at the lead 93-87 and the time left was 6:19.
Alas, his absence turned out to be the bad point for the Wolves and they never recovered from what they lost during his short absence. Beasley missed all four of his shots from the floor in the fourth quarter.
Strongest links
Hill succeeded in hitting three shots in the fourth quarter that came from turnovers given by the Timberwolves.
Weakest links
Darko Milicic could only score 2 for 19 from the field. He failed to lead to the foul line and could only dish out four points in 25 minutes. He played a game that was worth a pity, he passed a shot that turned out to be a bad pass. That bad pass ended up
into a turnover when the Timberwolves were leading the game by nine points. After that he had an opportunity to grab an offensive rebound but got whistled for a loose ball foul as he got caught pushing off.
HOT
Kevin succeeded in scoring his double-double at halftime. He scored 25 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and dished out three assists. WOW!
Coming Up
For the Timberwolves, Saturday vs. Cleveland, Monday @ New York, Wednesday vs. Oklahoma City. For the Spurs, Sunday vs. New Orleans, Wednesday vs. Golden State, Friday vs. Atlanta.
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