SAN ANTONIO —
Game Story
First Quarter
Minnesota started the game strong, getting out to a 14-6 lead before the Spurs called time. One of those buckets was a lovely lob from Tre Jones to rookie Josh Primo.
Out of that, San Antonio went on a 6-0 run as Jakob Poeltl, Tre Jones, and Devin Vassell all scored inside.
Romeo Langford came into the game and immediately hit his first shot, then drew a foul. Josh Richardson hit a three, then a baseline jumper off a feed from Zach Collins. Richardson got it back to Collins for a three.
Keita Bates-Diop finished inside, then Vassell got a steal and free throws to put the Spurs up. J-Rich missed, got his own board, and threw a lob to KBD for an and-1.
San Antonio led 35-30 after one.
Second Quarter
Devin Vassell scored first for the Spurs in the second, stopping on a dime and leaving his defender for a jumper.
Minnesota scored 9 points to take the lead before KBD scored inside to tie it again. The Timberwolves hit their second three in a row, and Pop called time.
Tre Jones drove into the middle of the paint, stopped, and floated one in. Poeltl hit a hook shot for the lead, then got a strip inside. Minnesota hit another three, but Keldon Johnson answered. Jaylen Nowell scored, but Poeltl answered with a floater.
KAT finished a lob and then hit a stepback three to put the T-Wolves up 5 and draw a timeout from Pop.
Devin Vassell swished a three to stop the bleeding, then ripped another on the next possession. Minnesota scored six in a row, and led 64-57 at the break.
Third Quarter
Minnesota opened the second half on an 8-0 run and eventually made it an 18-point game, as KAT got angry and got buckets.
Jak scored on a putback, and Keldon got to the hoop for a layup, then he hit a hook, then Poeltl blocked KAT at the rim, then Keldon got it back for a driving and-1. He missed the free throw, but Poeltl put it back in to make it a 10-point game.
San Antonio forced a turnover and a stop of KAT inside, then KBD got a transition euro step and-1 to make it a 9-0 run. Towns picked up a technical.
Edwards hit another three, and Keldon made a nice block in transition, but the Spurs turned it over entirely too much.
Collins rolled to the hoop and dunked it, but the Timberwolves hit a few more shots and led 97-82 heading to the fourth.
Fourth Quarter
Anthony Edwards got up to 42 points as the Timberwolves built a 17-point lead.
Keldon hit a three, Tre Jones drove for an and-1, the Spurs picked up a turnover, and J-Rich crammed it home to make it a 7-0 run and a 9-point game. Minnesota got a pair of threes to erase that run.
San Antonio got free throws, some stops and a layup to cut it to 11 before Ant scored again. Keldon drove and dished to KBD for a reverse layup, then hit a free throw.
Ant hunted his career high but got stopped inside. Keldon went the other way and got to 20 points for the eighth game in a row. Edwards got to the line, but missed his first.
Primo dished it to Zach Collins for an and-1 that made it a 9-point game with 90 seconds to go. Ant missed a deep three, Primo scored over Towns, and it was a 7-point game.
Ant missed threes, and Primo scored again. Ant missed another three, and Wieskamp got to the line in transition, but missed the first.
Edwards finally got fouled and hit the free throws to break his career high. Minnesota fouled on purpose to get him another shot, even though that made it a four-point game.
San Antonio doubled Edwards on the inbound, and the Timberwolves made a 5-second turnover with 8.1 to play.
Wieskamp shot and missed, KAT got the board and got fouled, preventing Edwards from going to the line for free throws. Minnesota won 127-121.
Pregame
The San Antonio Spurs (34-45) will visit the Minnesota Timberwolves (45-35) tonight as the Spurs will look to sharpen up ahead of their Play-In game versus the Pelicans.
The Spurs are 0-2 against the Wolves this season and this will be the final meeting between the teams this season.
In their previous game, the Spurs beat the Nuggets, 116-97.
Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson each had 20 points to lead the team while Josh Richardson added 18 points in the win. San Antonio was without All-Star guard Dejounte Murray who is dealing with an illness.
"It was our goal, my personal goal, at the beginning of the season to make the Play-In. It's looking really good. I'm proud of that achievement," Jakob Poeltl said. "I don't think we're satisfied yet. We want to take those opportunities and win those games and make it to the playoffs."
Here are five things to watch for in tonight's game:
1. The Wolves have four-consecutive games with more steals than their opponent.
2. The Spurs have lost two-straight games on the road versus Minnesota.
3. The Wolves have connected on 14-plus three-point shots in their last three games.
4. The Spurs have won five-straight road games.
5. The Spurs have help their opponent to under 100 points in the last two games.
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Twitter: @KENS5, @JeffGSpursKENS5