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I can already smell a win, but Spurs still have to play hard.
Game is Wednesday at 7:00 CST.
San Antonio (12-1) at Minnesota (4-11)
Tipoff: 8:00 pm EST Wed Nov 24, 2010
TV: FSSW, FSNO
By Noey Kupchan
The San Antonio Spurs have lost one game all season and that came nearly a month ago. Their next opponent isn’t likely to slow them down either.
The NBA-leading Spurs look to extend their own winning streak to 12 and make it 13 straight wins over the Minnesota Timberwolves when the teams meet at the Target Center on Wednesday night.
San Antonio (12-1) is off to the best start in franchise history, winning 11 in row since losing to New Orleans on Oct. 30. A victory Wednesday would give the Spurs their first 12-game streak since a 13-game run Feb. 13-March 13, 2007.
A potent offense has played a big part in San Antonio’s success. The team ranks second in the league, averaging 107.6 points per game, but has also stepped up its play on the defensive end lately, holding opponents to 93.5 points over the last eight games.
Manu Ginobili, who leads the team in scoring with 20.4 points per game, knows there is still a lot of work to be done.
“It’s too early to tell. What we know we’re winning games that last year we would have lost,” Ginobili said. “But it’s too early. Thirteen games so far. We’ve got a long way to go.”
The Spurs looked like championship contenders in their 106-97 win over Orlando on Monday night as they shot a season-best 63.2 (12 for 19) percent from 3-point range.
San Antonio is knocking down 3-pointers at an NBA-best 44.4 percent clip, and has received an extra boost from Matt Bonner, who went 4 for 4 from beyond the arc versus the Magic.
“We wanted to give the fans their money’s worth,” he said.
Bonner missed six games with a sprained ankle but has gone 18 for 26 (69.2 percent) from long distance since his return.
While the Spurs’ offense seems to be clicking on all cylinders, 12-time All Star and two-time MVP Tim Duncan is averaging a career-low 13.8 points in just 28.9 minutes per game.
Despite the lack of production, Duncan’s teammates aren’t concerned.
“Timmy’s taking a little bit of the back seat so we can save him for the playoffs,” said Tony Parker, who is averaging a career-best 7.8 assists.
Parker matched a season high with 24 points and distributed 10 assists Monday and is likely looking forward to the trip to Minnesota, where he recorded a career-high 55 points Nov. 5, 2008.
The Timberwolves (4-11) will be looking for their first win over the Spurs since Jan. 3, 2007, and have lost the last three meetings by at least 18 points.
San Antonio could be in line for a big offensive night with the Timberwolves ranking second-to-last in field-goal percentage (42.2) and last in scoring defense (110.4).
Minnesota lost for the fourth time in five games Monday, falling to Oklahoma City 117-107 despite strong performances from Kevin Love and Darko Milicic.
Love, averaging an league-best 14.0 rebounds, had 24 points and 17 boards while Milicic, the forgotten second-overall pick from the 2003 draft, scored 21.
Milicic, now on his fifth team in eight years, is averaging 5.7 points over his career, but with back-to-back 20-point efforts, may have found a home in Minnesota.
“He’s making great shots. He’s getting himself integrated into the offense really well,” said Love. “Blocking a ton of shots, getting rebounds. We’re happy for him.”
Love, limited to 10.8 points per game against the Spurs over his career, remains confident despite his team’s poor record.
“We just need to execute down the stretch a little bit better, and be put in those situations and eventually we’ll grow up and we’ll learn from them,” he said.
*********************
Team Stat Leaders
Points
Manu Ginobili SA 20.4
Michael Beasley Min 21.9
Rebounds
Tim Duncan SA 9.2
Kevin Love Min 14.0
Assists
Tony Parker SA 7.8
Sebastian Telfair Min 4.4
I can already smell a win, but Spurs still have to play hard.
Going to be fun watching two of the NBA's elite rebounders go at it in Blair vs Love.
Spurs on the road, after a big win and riding a streak, facing a young upstart team with no expectations....
Spurs need to come correct.
Not a preview, thought it belonged here with two of the five on the Wolves.
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba...for-mip-award/Leading Candidates for MIP
by Allen Kim
SLAM
Michael Beasley, Minnesota Timberwolves
Michael Beasley was a highly touted draft pick coming out of college, but his first two seasons in the League were anything but impressive.
Beasley spent his time in Miami under the shadow of Dwyane Wade. He never had a clear cut role and went in and out of the starting lineup while switching between small and power forward.
After being exiled from South Beach, Beasley was sent to Minnesota and appears to have settled in as the team’s starting small forward. Now that Beasley is a member of the Timberwolves, he has free reign to take command on the offensive side of the ball and showcase his talents to the rest of the world.
Beasley started out with solid, if unspectacular numbers through the first seven games of the season. However, in an early November game against the Sacramento Kings, Beasley exploded for a career high 42 points. Since then, Beasley has been on a scoring binge going off for at least 25 points in six straight. That streak broke the previous franchise record set nearly a decade ago by Kevin Garnett.
Through 13 games, Beasley is averaging 22.4 points on 48.9 percent shooting, up from last year’s 14.8 average of 45 percent. He has broken the 30-point barrier on three separate occasions and has reached double-digit scoring numbers in 12 out of the 13 games he’s played in. Michael is also sinking in 1.1 three-pointers per game shooting an absurd 48.3 percent shooting.
Chances are, he’ll come back down to Earth after his recent hot streak, but there’s no reason to believe he can’t maintain a 20-plus point scoring average over the course of the season.
It looks like Michael is finally living up to his No. 2 overall Draft pick status, and Minnesota, not Miami, will be the ones reaping the rewards.
Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves
The Free Kevin Love movement has finally succeeded and even Kurt Rambis can’t keep Kevin from getting the playing time he rightfully deserves.
When Love isn’t doing awkward handshakes with his teammates, he practically inhales every rebound that goes remotely near him. Kevin is leading the league in rebounds, pulling down 13.8 per game. He has quickly supplanted Dwight Howard as the best glass cleaning big in the NBA.
Love made his stamp on the season with an eye-popping performance against the New York Knicks. He started the game slow, but went berserk in the second half on his way to 31 points and 31 rebounds.
The last time a 30/30 game was accomplished was 28 years ago by Moses Malone. Pretty esteemed company for Kevin to be in to say the least.
Minnesota is second overall in rebounds per game and Love more than doubles the next highest rebounder on the team, Darko Milicic. Kevin also has a knack for grabbing boards on the offensive side of the ball as he pulls down 4.7 offensive boards per game. His ability to create second chance opportunities has helped the Timberwolves tremendously.
If Kevin had Dwight Howard’s build and athleticism, he would undoubtedly record some Rodman-esque type rebounding numbers year in and year out. In fact, it’s not out of the question that at some point, he reaches some of the ludicrous plateaus set by the Worm.
The draft day trade that sent Kevin Love to Minnesota and OJ Mayo to Memphis is looking smarter by the day.
*********************
Hit the link for the write-ups on the other three.
Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers
Eric Gordon, L.A. Clippers
Luis Scola(!), Houston Rockets
This is a must-win game, but a loss would be okay too.
I think the Wolves will win this game... There's no love in Love, Beastly is a beast... I mean c'mon..
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...erwolves-4-11/Wednesday: Spurs (12-1) at Timberwolves (4-11)
Jeff McDonald
...Bonner leads NBA in 3-point percentage at 69.2 (18 of 26). … Spurs have won 12 straight against Minnesota.
Danger Will Robinson. Trap game!
Game Day Scouting Report
Jonah Ballow
Timberwolves.com
Notable Injuries:
Wolves:
* Nikola Pekovic (foot/ankle) - OUT
* Martell Webster (back surgery) - OUT
* Jonny Flynn (hip) - OUT
Scouting Report:
Big Picture:
Yes, the Spurs are aging and questions surround the core nucleus in their pursuit to reach the NBA mountain top once again but under Greg Popovich, they will be in the championship hunt. After a second round exit in the playoffs last year, San Antonio hopes a healthy Big Three (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili) will connect with new additions, Tiago Splitter and James Anderson. Since falling to New Orleans in their second game of the season, the Spurs are red-hot with 11 straight victories. Ginobili leads the team in scoring as San Antonio ranks second in the league in points per game despite minimal offensive contributions from Duncan. Starting tonight in Minnesota, the Spurs will play their next four of five games on the road.
Last Time Out
San Antonio continued its impressive run by topping Orlando 106-97 on Monday night. The home win included 25 points from Ginobili while the Spurs outscored the Magic 32-20 in the fourth quarter. San Antonio improved to 12-1, hovering over the entire Western Conference with the best overall league record.
Minnesota stormed back from a big Thunder lead in the fourth quarter. Kevin Love helped the Wolves snatch a 105-104 advantage with only 1:20 remaining in the game but Oklahoma City escaped its home gym with a 117-107 victory on Monday.
The Numbers Game
Love ranks second in the league with 10 double-doubles this year. Pau Gasol owns 11 but also averages seven more minutes per contest.
Match-up to Watch
Wes Johnson vs. Manu Ginobili
For several seasons, Ginobili accepted the sixth man role to give the Spurs a spark off the bench. This year, the Argentinean is the go-to scoring threat for his squad and presents a difficult challenge on the defensive end of the floor. Wolves guard Corey Brewer has stated that Ginobili is one of the toughest defensive assignments in the entire league. Rookie Wes Johnson will learn how to guard the unorthodox, yet effective shooting guard on Wednesday night, attempting to defend his deadly deep range jumper and streaking euro-step in the lane.
What to Look For
The Spurs know exactly what to expect from each other on the floor with substantial game experience in the regular and postseason. They are the model of consistency and now pack the offensive punch to compete against the upper echelon of the league. The Wolves displayed remarkable resiliency in a losing effort on Monday night. That same type of effort seen in the fourth quarter will keep Minnesota close and within striking distance to snap a two-game slide. After allowing Oklahoma City to score 117 points, the Wolves will need a strong defensive performance to slow down the second best offensive squad in the NBA.
spurs ftw
The Wolves have been playing much better lately, SA better not take them too lightly.
Darko is playing good basketball right now, and he has given Duncan and the Spurs some trouble in the past..he could be a tough match up..
Another scrub team
Whatevz, but they better come out 110% defensively
I'm worried the Spurs are thinking the same thing.
Wolves-San Antonio game preview
Jerry Zgoda
Star Tribune
Preview: Guess what? Those wheezy, creaky old Spurs are off to the best start in franchise history, and they own the NBA's best record. They're 12-1 with an 11-game winning streak and haven't lost since the season's second game against New Orleans at home. ...The Spurs' previous best season start was 9-1, accomplished back-to-back in the 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons. ... The Spurs have beaten the Wolves 12 consecutive times and last season swept the series, winning by at least 18 points all three games.
Players to watch: The Spurs are the league's best right now even though future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan has scored in single digits in nearly half their games (six of 13) and is their fourth- leading scorer. Talented and deep, the Spurs don't need him to carry such a big load anymore, not with Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili both healthy again and averaging 40 points a game between them. Ginobili (20.4) leads them, Parker is second at 19.5 and Richard Jefferson is third at 15.6 points. Duncan averages 13.8 ppg, which would easily be a career low if he continues at this pace.
Numbers: Parker holds the Target Center scoring record. He had 55 in a double-overtime November 2008 game. Former Spurs great David Robinson is second on the Target Center list with a 50-point game in February 1994.
Injuries: Wolves C Nikola Pekovic (sprained ankle), G Jonny Flynn (hip surgery) and G/F Martell Webster (back surgery) are out. Spurs G James Anderson (broken foot) is out.
Spurs on the road, after a big win and riding a streak, facing a young upstart team with no expectations....
Spurs need to come correct.
that is exactly what I was thinking.
I saw too many loses like this.
Wolves team got a real good frontline. I wonder how our frontline will look like in rotations
nice piece of trivia.
common Manu. make it 3 Spurs to top that list.
Beasley and Love are playing too well. Darko recently found his offensive game and he blocks shots at a high rate too. The Spurs have to somewhat contain these guys and not allow their shooters, Wesley Johnson, Wayne Ellington and the likes go off against them.
If Spurs are serious, it's a win. Otherwise, it could get complicated.
Yep, Darko "glurp glurp" Milicic has often do a good job against Tim. He and Kwame Brown are maybe two of the biggest draft busts but they strangely are strangely very good at defending Duncan.
15 point win and hopefully we get to see significant minutes for Tiago
http://www.nba.com/news/referee.html
Referee Assignments
Wed. Nov. 24
San Antonio @ Minnesota: Bavetta; Brian Forte; Michael Smith
This is the type of game I hope the Spurs can pull ahead early in and get Splitter some quality minutes against a fairly tough line-up of Love/Milicic.
Will also be 'fun' to see the match-up of the unorthodox PFs with Bonner vs. Tolliver.
This is why the Wolves don't scare me at all.
Telfair.
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