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Final Score: Minnesota Timberwolves beat San Antonio Spurs, 128-89
Stats:
Wolves- 48 rebounds, 33 assists, 5 Blocks and 12 steals.
Spurs- 46 rebounds, 23 assists, 8 Blocks and 1 steals.
It was a horrible night for the San Antonio Spurs as they were walloped by the Minnesota Timberwolves by 128-89.
The first quarter was a warm-up to the demolition that was about to happen. Patty Mills made an and-one at the end of the first quarter and reduced the difference to three. The score at the end of the first quarter was Wolves leading by 28-25.
It was time for the second quarter and Wolves sent their secondary line up of Derrick Rose, Tyus Jones, Covington, Dario Saric, and Dieng. Dieng blocked Mills' shot and made a jumper at the other end. This was the start of the story. By the time Wiggins checked into the game six minutes later, the Wolves’ second unit had gone on a 19-4 run, and there was no looking back then.
After a 29-9 second quarter, Spurs never really came back and ultimately lost by a big margin. Let us talk about the three main points from the match.
#3 One of the worst performance of the season by the Spurs
It was horrible to watch their team play like this for the Spurs' fans. This match not only was their worst loss but also exposed a lot of their weaknesses.
Gregg Popovich changed the starting line-up and went small against a team that is big. As a result, there were mismatches and Wolves had some easy baskets at the start.
I would not put the whole blame on the coach as players also did not have that fire to compete. They were disastrous on both the ends of the floor and lacked that urgency to win.
At one point, Pop switched to a zone defense which is a sign of players not executing the defensive system properly.
#2 Another team effort by the Wolves
Minnesota are a whole new team in the defensive department after the Jimmy Butler trade. They once again were great with their defence and never let the opposition get easy buckets.
It was a team effort with seven players scoring in double figures. The first unit was lead in scoring by Karl-Anthony Towns and Robert Covington. Towns had a quiet game with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Covington scored 21 points with 9 rebounds. Taj Gibson is a great contributor for the team on both the ends of the floor and scored 13 points with 8 rebounds.
The second unit for the wolves (Jones, Saric, Covington, Derrick Rose and Gorgui Dieng), continues to impress.
Josh Okogie made a comeback and was the highlight of the day. His impressive dunk left everybody speechless. He hit three three-pointers out of the four attempted.
Check the highlight dunk of the night by Josh Okogie:
This Minnesota team is deep and dangerous!
#1 Robert Covington continues to impress (Player of the game?)
Robert Covington is my player of the game for this game.
Covington scored 21 points, 9 rebounds, 1 block, 1 assist and 1 steal. He was 8 out of 15 from the field and 4 out of 9 from the three.
I could have given the player of the game to Derrick Rose who just played 18 minutes and scored 16 points with four three-pointers converted out of the 5 attempted, but Covington was much more than points. He was all over the court. He was the best player on the offence as well as the defence.
After Covington's addition to this team, they have worked as a team, especially on the defence. They are having one of the best defensive displays in a long time.
Wolves are now 7-2 after the Jimmy Butler trade and 11-11 for the season. They play the Celtics next on Saturday.
Guess the Lakers players!
