Spurs-Timberwolves Preview

By KATE HEDLIN
Posted Jan 02 2012 12:22AM

Tim Duncan said he isn't going to stop shooting despite his struggles from the floor. A busy week will provide him with a lot of opportunities to get things going.

Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs look to win their 17th straight over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

While San Antonio will play two sets of back-to-back games later this week, the Spurs (3-1) have a chance to begin the stretch on a favorable note against Minnesota. They have won 16 in a row over the Timberwolves since a 103-101 overtime loss Jan. 3, 2007, on the road.

San Antonio is coming off a 104-89 victory over Utah on Saturday, going 10 of 16 from 3-point range while holding the Jazz to 37.1 percent shooting.

Manu Ginobili scored 23 points, DeJuan Blair had 17 and 10 rebounds and Tony Parker added 14 points and eight assists.

The performance seemed to lend credence to coach Gregg Popovich's approach in a 105-85 loss to Houston on Thursday. Popovich, who recorded his 800th career victory against the Jazz, pulled his veterans early and said he's willing to do that again in order to keep his veterans fresh during the compact schedule.

Though the Spurs starters looked rested against Utah, Duncan's shooting struggles continued.

After playing less than 16 minutes against the Rockets, Duncan finished with 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting Saturday, although he seemed to get things going late. He was 1 of 7 from the field in the first half.

"Getting just about every shot I want, just can't put them in the hole," he said. "But I'm going to stick with it and hopefully down the stretch or the next couple of games I can get it going."

While San Antonio swept the four-game series against Minnesota last season, one went into overtime and two others were decided by a combined nine points. The Spurs could be in for another tough one against the Timberwolves (1-3) on Monday.

Kevin Love finished with 25 points and 17 boards in a 99-82 win over Dallas on Sunday for Minnesota's first win.

Although the Timberwolves had lost 18 straight dating back to last season, their first three losses in 2011-12 were by a combined nine points.

"It's a new year," said Love, who hit 5 of 6 from 3-point range. "We're the best team in 2012 right now. We feel good. We've got the monkey off our back."

Love was a big factor in keeping Minnesota's games against San Antonio close last season, averaging 23.8 points and 19.3 rebounds.

Besides defending Love, San Antonio will have to keep its eye on rookie Ricky Rubio, particularly late in games.

Rubio, the fifth overall pick in the 2009 draft, scored a season-high 14 points and had seven assists against Dallas on Sunday. He scored seven points in the fourth quarter, playing all 12 minutes.

Twenty-one of his 38 points have come in the final quarter, when Rubio has gone 7 for 10 with 14 assists.

"I worked a lot this summer on shooting jump shots and all the stuff. When you work hard, things (are) coming," he said.

The Timberwolves could be without Michael Beasley after he injured his index finger.

Timberwolves beat Spurs for 2nd straight win

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI
Posted Jan 03 2012 12:04AM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Rick Adelman was wondering how his young Minnesota Timberwolves would handle their first taste of prosperity.

He couldn't have been much happier after watching them thump the San Antonio Spurs, who now find themselves knee deep in adversity with the loss of star guard Manu Ginobili.

Kevin Love had 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves to their second win in a row, 106-96 Monday night over the Spurs, who lost Ginobili to a broken left hand.

Luke Ridnour had 19 points and nine assists and Wes Johnson broke out of a shooting slump with 14 points and 6-for-6 shooting for the Timberwolves, who snapped an 18-game losing streak with a win over Dallas on Sunday.

"You're not satisfied with last night, you build off of it," said Adelman, whose Wolves scored 65 points in the first half on the second night of a back-to-back. "That's what I just told them. We've got two more home games on this homestand and we want to build off it."

Ginobili injured his shooting hand in the second quarter. The two-time All-Star will be examined in San Antonio on Tuesday.

"It's going to be tough for us because he was playing at an All-Star level," said point guard Tony Parker, who had 11 points and nine assists. "And now we're going to have to have everybody pick it up."

Tim Duncan had 16 points and five assists and Richard Jefferson scored 16 points for the Spurs.

The Timberwolves shot 58 percent for the game and were above 70 percent shooting midway through the third quarter.

Playing with five stitches in the index finger on his shooting hand, Michael Beasley had 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting and Johnson bounced back after going 3 for 13 in his previous two games.

"I was pressing," Johnson said. "I was trying to find my shot moreso than letting it come to me. As I saw tonight, if I just be patient, it's there."

The Spurs will get over the loss to Minnesota quickly. The loss of Ginobili could linger for a while.

The team's leading scorer is the emotional and fiery center of this proud, veteran team. With Duncan getting older and having his minutes limited to save him for the postseason, the offense revolves around Ginobili's perimeter shooting and slashing to the basket.

"Manu is pretty important to us and we lost him," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We'll just have to deal with it."

The former Sixth Man of the Year quickly walked to the locker room after he was injured for X-rays, which revealed a broken fifth metacarpal on his shooting hand.

"He means a lot to the team," said James Anderson, who figures to get a lot of the playing time in Ginobili's absence. "He's one of the biggest plusses to the team. Without him we lose a lot of stuff, and that's on both ends."

Without Ginobili's offensive punch, the Spurs simply couldn't keep up with Minnesota's torrid shooting.

The Spurs have hung their hats on the defensive end for years, building a championship foundation that let opponents know they were going to have to work for every bucket against Duncan and Co. Coming into the game, they held their previous two opponents to 4 for 33 on 3-pointers.

That's why it was so startling to see the Timberwolves have such an easy time on Monday night. They shot a scorching 67 percent from the field in the first half, including 7 for 8 from 3-point range. A lot of those were wide open looks for Love, who buried 3 of 4 from long range thanks to superb ball movement from Ridnour and Ricky Rubio at the point.

The Wolves hit 12 of 21 shots from deep for the game.

Rubio, the impressive rookie from Spain, was quiet with six points and three assists in 24 minutes, but the veteran Ridnour more than picked up the slack by hitting seven of his 10 shots and two of three 3-pointers.

"There's going to be so many games this year, if you can try to find a way to get on a run at home, it's going to help you in the long run," Ridnour said. "To be able to win two in a row against Dallas and San Antonio, for this team, is huge."

NOTES: Timberwolves G JJ Barea sat out the game to rest his strained right hamstring. ... Spurs G Gary Neal, who has not played this season because of an appendectomy, has been assigned to the D-League Austin Toros to get some practice time in before rejoining the team. ... Danny Green played a solid 17 minutes for the Spurs, scoring nine points and playing tough defense on Rubio.

Notebook: Timberwolves 106, Spurs 96

By Jim Beilby, for NBA.com
Posted Monday January 2, 2012 11:56PM

THE FACTS: The Minnesota Timberwolves followed up their victory over Dallas on Sunday night with an equally impressive 106-96 win over the San Antonio Spurs. Despite turning the ball over 19 times (Minnesota ranks last in the league in that statistic), the Wolves benefitted from hot shooting and impressive play by Kevin Love and Luke Ridnour.

Love scored 24 and grabbed 15 boards and Ridnour scored 19 on 7-for-10 shooting and dished out a season-high nine assists.

San Antonio made a number of runs, but could not get within 10 for the final quarter and a half. It did not help that Manu Ginobili was unable to finish the game. He fractured the fifth metacarpal in his left hand with 2:38 to play in the second quarter.

QUOTABLE: "A real solid win for us. ... In the first quarter, we played so well offensively; the ball was moving. We scored 66 points in the first half against them. ... (but) it was kind of fool's gold because they were scoring too. ... In the second half we did a nice job of controlling the tempo, making sure we defended better, while still maintaining it offensively."
-- Minnesota coach Rick Adelman

THE STAT: Minnesota shot 57.7 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from beyond the arc, season highs both for the Wolves and for a Spurs opponent.

TURNING POINT: San Antonio got within seven with 7:38 to play in the third quarter and looked to have all the momentum. Minnesota responded with a pair of 3-pointers by Wes Johnson and Love and a pair of layups by Darko Milicic. With strong defense and good tempo, Minnesota's lead stayed in the double-digits for the rest of the game.

QUOTABLE II: "(We do) the same thing everybody else does. There's no magic. He's an All-Star player. We do a variety of things on pick and rolls and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. You don't stop great players."
-- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on trying to stop Love

HOT: Minnesota's starting backcourt of Johnson and Ridnour had an extremely strong game. They didn't miss a shot until 3:13 in the third quarter. At that time, they were 24-for-24 including 4-for-4 from 3-point range.

NOTABLE: Monday's victory snaps a 16-game winning streak for the Spurs vs. the Wolves.

UP NEXT: For the Wolves, Wednesday vs. Memphis, Friday vs. Cleveland, Sunday @ Washington. For the Spurs, Wednesday vs. Golden State, Thursday vs. Dallas, Saturday vs. Denver.

• Spurs: Neal
• Timberwolves: Miller, Webster

• Spurs: --
• Timberwolves: --

• Lead Changes: 3
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Officials: #27 Dick Bavetta, #63 Derek Richardson, #38 Michael Smith
• Attendance: 14514
• Duration: 2:03