Timberwolves at Spurs: Ten straight against Minnesota?
By Alex Monseth
When the Spurs take on the Timberwolves on Saturday night, San Antonio has a chance to notch their tenth-straight win against the Timberwolves.
On Saturday night, the Timberwolves will look to defeat not only the Spurs, but the curse that has come with playing them the past few years.
Minnesota comes into the game having won four out of their past five games, including three of them coming against teams that they are challenging for the eighth spot in the Western Conference (Denver, Dallas, and Sacramento).
Having not made the postseason in 13 years, the excitement is building as the Timberwolves finally may again have a chance to play basketball beyond the regular season. It will be an uphill battle, however, as the Timberwolves must play 13 of their 21 remaining games on the road.
The San Antonio Spurs, on the other hand, have won a tidy 16 of 20 games since these two teams last played on January 17th. At 47-13 on the season, the Spurs are just 2.5 games behind the Western Conference-leading Golden State Warriors. With Kevin Durant sidelined for a period of time, the Spurs could look to capitalize on a chance to obtain the coveted home court advantage during the entire postseason.
The last time these teams met, the Wolves exploded for 71 points in the opening half. The Spurs, however, matched with a terrific 67 points of their own and were able to hold off Minnesota in the fourth quarter for a ninth straight win over the Wolves.
Kawhi Leonard dominated for San Antonio on that night, scoring 34 points on 12-of-17 shooting. Karl-Anthony Towns had quite the game himself for the Timberwolves, scoring 27 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.
The surprise of the game? Ricky Rubio went for 21 points and dished out 15 assists. While 13 of those 21 points came at the free throw line, it was still an impressive outing for Ricky.
Injury-wise, Minnesota will be playing without guard Zach LaVine for the 11th straight game as he recovers from an ACL tear and will miss the remainder of the season. The Spurs appear to be fully healthy as they hit the home stretch of the season.
Let’s take a closer look at the match-up…