Happy birthday, Karl-Anthony Towns! On his 22nd birthday he gave his Minnesota Timberwolves (9-5) the 98:86 victory (box score) with a strong performance and broke a long defeat against the San Antonio Spurs (9-6).
A long and sad series is coming to an end. Twelve times in a row the Timberwolves had lost against the Spurs. Thus, the young cornerstones of the Wolves – Karl-Anthony Towns and Wiggins – had in fact never won against San Antonio in their young career. The better it must have been for the home win against the guests who had previously won five of their last six games.
The Wolves were extremely difficult in the first quarter and were forced by the stable Spurs-D mostly to inefficient middle distance throws. But then Jimmy Butler, who was initially weak at the start of the game, was allowed to thank his bankers, who put them in the lead in the second quarter. Nemanja Bjelica (11 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block) was one of the strongest players, offering the fans at the Target Center some highlights.
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As a result of the strong banking performance, weaker performances by Andrew Wiggins (11 points, 4/11 FG) and Butler (6 points, 2/13 FG) were compensated for. Birthday child Towns was rewarded with a dominant performance (26 points, 10/18 FG, 16 rebounds), Jeff Teague (16 points, 7/13 FG, 6 assists) showed one of his better performances in the Wolves jersey and Taj Gibson (10 points, 8 rebounds) convinced with great energy.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich saw an uninspired performance by his team, which relied primarily on offensive actions by Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge. Aldridges (15 points, 5/14 FG, 10 rebounds) Throwing hand wobbled too often and so no trace could provide a constant good offensive. With this defeat, San Antonio had to let the Timberwolves pass in the table of the Western Conference.
The Wolves-Bank’s scoring punch before half-time laid the foundation for the victory: In the second quarter, the home team’s second suit was able to end the possession of the ball twelve times in a row with a basket success. The entire quarter went 39-19 to the Wolves and brought them a 14-point lead before the halftime.
San Antonio could not take advantage of one of the Wolves’ great weaknesses due to the weak performance of their primary ball handlers. Minnesota is one of the NBA’s worst ring protectors, but the Spurs only took 24 percent of their throws – far too few! In a constant post-up situation without much movement against Aldridge and Gasol Gibson, Towns and Co. mostly in their defensive comfort zone.
Wolves vs. Spurs: Click here for the BOXSCORE!
Karl-Anthony Towns. Big-Kat was not to be stopped by the big boys of the Spurs who had come a little bit into the days. He might have been even more dominant if he had decided not to take the quick jump shot more often. Especially on the way to the basket, the Spurs Towns couldn’t oppose anything.
The Spurs baking court. The Big’s were left behind in this game. Neither Patty Mills, Jamal Murray or Manu Ginobili could give the game direction.
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