Season 48, Game 12
San Antonio 121, Minnesota 92
8-4, 6th in the West

After falling behind by 4 in the opening minutes, the Spurs went on a Tony Parker-led 8-0 run to go up 12-8. Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders didn’t like what he was seeing and called a timeout. And just like that: this game was over.

Of course it wasn’t over. The Spurs only led by 3, 29-26, at the end of the first quarter. But some Spurs games are like this. You know after a few minutes that their opponent is out-matched and will be out-coached and out-played.

”It wasn’t a fair fight,” coach Gregg Popovich said after the game.

Blame injuries. The T’wolves are currently without three of their starters: Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic.

Blame youth. The ten players who suited up for Minnesota Friday night have a combined 44,208 minutes in the NBA. Seem like a lot? Tim Duncan alone has played 43,911 career minutes.

I love watching the League Pass home feed during Spurs road games. The Minnesota announcers, like most NBA announcers these days, gushed about Pop, the Spurs organization, and Tony Parker, calling him one of the all-time great guards. This continued throughout most of last night’s game.

There was also some interesting chatter about Becky Hammond by the Minnesota announcers. Apparently ‘Jim Pete’, the T’wolves color commentary guys, was an WNBA assistant coach and used to scout Becky. At least twice he said: go watch highlight reels of Becky Hammon on YouTube.

The second quarter got off to a good start. Manu Ginobili made a free throw, tying the game at 30-30 with 10:57 left in the period. Austin Daye made a 3. Cory Joseph ran a 2-on-1 fast break with Danny Green. Spurs lead 35-30. Another timeout called by Saunders.

After the timeout, another basket by Tony: 17 points on 8 of 11 shooting (including a 3) and we’re not even halfway through the second period.

Back-to-back 3s by Danny Green gave the Spurs their largest lead of the night, 47-37. Saunders called another timeout.

You knew the Spurs had this game in hand and were barely playing hard,.

Kawhi put up an unblockable speed-change floater. Spurs went on an 8-0 run.

Duncan still hadn’t scored. Hadn’t even taken a shot. So many weapons on this team. But Timmy displayed a nice bit of acting after Corey Brewer brushed past him. Might have been an illegal screen, too. A fine worthy flop? Perhaps. The Minnesota announcers thought so.

Ginobili found a wide open Parker in the corner, who buried his second 3. Spurs lead 54-37. The Spurs lead may have been 17, but it felt more like 27.

The T’wolves finished the half with pretty good energy, though, scoring on six consecutive possessions, to cut the Spurs lead to 11, 59-48. Parker had 23 at the half. You could see how this was going to turn out.

The Spurs opened the third with: a pocket pass from Parker to Duncan (61); a Kawhi Leonard mid-range jumper (63); a Danny Green floater (65); a Tony Parker layup (67); LOTS of second shot opportunities.

Spurs lead by 17 and Saunders called a timeout. I wonder what he tells his team in games like these.

After the timeout, and a T’wolves miss, Tony drove the lane then kicked out to Kawhi in the corner who buried the 3 (70). Spurs lead by 20 with 20 minutes still left to play.

This is one of those games where it’s hard not to get distracted, see what’s in the fridge. I found some leftover pizza (ham, pineapple and jalapeno) and a few beers (Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA) in mine.

There’s not much else to say about this game. The Spurs lead grew bigger, getting to be as much as 31, until finally settling at 29.

This game was never really in question. The Spurs were supposed to win and they did, behind: the inspired play of Tony Parker, who scored 28 points in 25 minutes; solid league-leading defense and rebounding (53-34); and excellent shooting: 55% overall, 62% from behind the arc, and 89% from the charity stripe.

More and more, we’re seeing championship-caliber basketball being played by this Spurs team. And yet, this game wasn’t great, despite the outcome.

This is what it feels like to be a Spurs fan coming off a Championship season. Even when our team is winning, we expect more from them. Crazy, huh?

Random notes:

  • It’s good to see Belinelli back from his groin injury. Because he disappeared in last years Finals, some fans may have forgotten how important he was last year, especially during the first half of the season.
  • Austin Daye and Aron Baynes put up nearly identical stat lines: Daye had 13 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists; Baynes had 12 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. Baynes looks like he’s improving. Not so sure about Daye.
  • Andrew Wiggins is really talented, as you would expect for a #1 overall draft pick. He had some moments against Kawhi where he was absolutely unstoppable. He’ll be 20 years old in a few months. Makes me wonder what he’ll do once Rubio and Pekovic are back in the lineup.
  • Mo Williams. Man, I don’t know what it is about his game, but it’s not fun to watch, at least not as a Spurs fan. I’m glad he’s playing in Minnesota and not in Portland, Los Angeles, or Cleveland.

Next up: Deron Williams and the New Jersey, uh, Brooklyn Nets in a SEGABABA.

Go Spurs Go.