The Minnesota Timberwolves finish the 2012-13 season with a 108-95 win over the San Antonio Spurs! Like I've done the past two weeks, this final gameday recap is a Game Log. First Quarter -Pek warmed up before the game, but that calf bruise is still bothering him and he was ruled out for this one. Stiemer getting the start against Duncan. -TWolves go with Rubio, Ridnour, Kirilenko, Williams & Stiemsma; Spurs counter with Parker, Green, Leonard, Bonner & Duncan. -TWolves leading early, after two minutes Luke Ridnour & Derrick Williams have taken all their field goal attempts and lead 5-2 with just under 10 minutes to play in the first. -Ricky drains a triple to give the Wolves an 8-4 lead w/8:30 to play. -One minute later Ricky nails another three and he's now 2-2 from deep with 6pts and an 11-4 lead, 8:30 to play. -TWolves getting some good looks and knocking down their shots. The shots they're getting and the points don't seem to be a sustainable offense though, you can't expect Ricky to keep hitting these threes. Have to get some buckets at the rim from Williams, Kirilenko, Stiemsma, etc. -Spurs managed just 6 points through the first five minutes of action. TWolves with 14. -Shortly thereafter Gary Neal nails a triple to make it a 5-point ballgame. -TWolves refusing to give up ground, answering on most every made San Antonio bucket. -Pop got Neal into this ball game early and he's answered with a couple of made threes. -Timberwolves hustling on the boards--on both ends of the floor. Getting themselves second and third chance buckets. -J.J. Barea checks in for Ridnour with just over 4 minutes to play. -Out of a timeout the Wolves bring in Chase for AK. -Greg Stiemsma seeing extended minutes in this one and I hate every minute of it. Tim Duncan having little trouble against him in the post. Greg also not hustling to either end of the floor, playing with very little energy. -Spurs tie it up on a Duncan layup at 24, but Rubio quickly answers with his third triple of the game and the Wolves lead by 3 with just under a minute to play. Rubio now up to 11pts! -Spurs getting good looks at the rim, but can't get them to fall. -Quarter ends with Budinger knocking down a triple to give the Wolves a 30-24 lead after the first quarter! Second Quarter -Gary Neal getting it going in the second quarter as he's now up to 10 on the night after a couple of floaters to start the quarter. -Chris Johnson, Dante Cunningham, Alexey Shved, J.J. Barea & Chase Budinger starting the second quarter. -Everybody getting in on the three-point action. Rubio has three; Bud, Shved & Barea each with 1. -Barea slashes to the rim and hits a righty scoop between four Spurs defenders! -Wolves up 40-34 w/7:50 to play. -The Spurs broadcasters are surprised that these Wolves continue to battle in this one and aren't 'rolling over' in an ultimately meaningless game. -This second unit for the Wolves playing very well. Getting plenty of buckets at the rim and knocking them down. -It's 46-40 TWolves w/4:40 to play in the half. -Spurs have now shot 15 free throws (made them all) to the Wolves' 2 (made them both) with 4:00 to play in the half. -Mickael Gelabale makes a rare first half appearance as he checks in with just under 4 minutes to play in the half for Chase. -It's starting to unravel for the Wolves now as they've given up a number of transition buckets and three balls to give the Spurs a 46-50 w/3:16 to play. -Wolves bring in some starters out of a timeout, Ridnour, Stiemsma, Rubio & Williams on the court with Gelabale. -Derrick gets a takeaway and runs the length of the court, hits a layup, fouled by Bonner and gets the and-one to fall at the line. -Stiemsma picks up his third foul with another dumb play and Johnson returns, with just over a minute to play in the first half. -Spurs lead 52-59 with just under one minute to play. -Gelly nails a triple and cuts the lead back to 4. -TWolves down 56-61 after two quarters of play. Halftime -Rubio ends the first half with 12pts, 2reb, 1ast, 2stls and 3-5 from deep. He now needs just two more steals to end the season as the NBA's leader in steals per game (beating out Chris Paul). -Williams also adds 12pts to go along with 2reb, 1ast & 1stl. -Tony Parker has 15pts, 6ast, 1stl for the Spurs and 9 of his 15 have come from the line (9-9). -Duncan also with 15pts to go along with 9reb, 1blk and 7 of his 15 have come at the line (7-7). -Gary Neal has come off the bench with 12pts, 1reb and has hit 2-5 from deep. -The Wolves shooting 44.7% from the field to San Antonio's 44.2%. Minnesota a surprising 7-16 (43.8%) from deep, while the Spurs go 3-11 (27.3%). A big difference maker has been the free throw differential. Minnesota just 7-9 at the line in the first half, while the Spurs have gone 20-for-20. Third Quarter -Missed about a minute to start the third quarter--but did make some great jalapeño dip at halftime, well worth it! :) -TWolves down 60-61 after 1:30 gone in the third. -Stiemsma finally drills a mid-range jumper as the Wolves take a one-point lead. -This start to the third (6-0 run) mirrors what the Wolves did early in the first quarter (jumping out to that early lead). -After just nine minutes play in the first half, Kirilenko back on the court to start the second half. With Gelabale playing I was a bit concerned that something might've happened (injury-wise) but he's all right--Adelman just getting all his guys some quality PT. -Danny Green with back-to-back buckets to tie it at 65 w/8:50 to play. -Rubio steps out of bounds on a three-point attempt, than lets out an audible yell that gets caught on the mics. -Duncan now with a double-double with 17pts & 10reb. -Stiemer seems to be showing a bit more energy in this second half as he sends Bonner's post shot away and then gathers the board. -Williams called for a travel. The ref that was standing right next to him didn't make the call (as DWill was under the bucket) it was instead the ref standing at halfcourt...hmmm... -Spurs have definitely gone cold here to start the second quarter. -OH MY! OH ME OH MY! Derrick Williams on the fast break hammers down a 360 dunk! Just like his oop attempt vs. the Jazz on Monday this one will be all over the highlight reel tonight! Google this dunk! Do it immediately! -Wolves up 71-67 w/6:00 to play in the third. -Neal checks back in out of the timeout, let's see if that hot hand carries over in the second for him. -With Splitter & Diaw both out, DeJuan Blair seeing plenty of court time. Each time I watch him play I don't understand why he's not a big part of Pop's rotations. Though, I don't see more than five or six Spurs games a season. -Stiemsma's inconsistent mid-range jumper has been on tonight as he's now knocked down a pair. -And there's another three ball for Gary Neal (his third of the night) as the Wolves lead down to 1. -Then Stiemer hammers down a dunk to push it back to a three-point game w/2:49 to play, 77-74. -Out of a timeout, Derrick Williams triples to make it a 6-point game with just over 2 minutes to play. -From what the Spurs broadcasters are saying, tim Duncan may be done for the night. -That Andrei Kirilenko pump fake is a thing of beauty! I honestly can't think of a player who has a better pump fake in the League. -TWolves end the quarter on a bit of dry-spell offensively, but still lead 80-76 after three quarters. -TWolves outscore the Spurs 24-15 and allow them 0 free throw attempts after 20 through the first two quarters! Fourth Quarter -A goaltending call gives the Wolves their first score of the fourth. Next Wolves possession ends with a charge call against DWill, even though Baynes wasn't set and actually jumped in the air with Williams! -Barea hits a triple after a Blair hook shot to give the Wolves an 85-78 edge after 1:30 played in the final quarter of the season for Minnesota. -Blair has all 4 of the Spurs points in the fourth on a couple great post moves. If the Spurs don't want him back next year...I'd take him! -TWolves get a rare trip to the line tonight, but Shved goes 1 of 2 at the line, MIN still up 86-80 with 9:00 to go. -Wolves will get another opportunity at the line out of the timeout after Blair fouls Dante on a dunk attempt. Dante hits both at the line to make it an 8-point lead. -Rubio not out there right now and still needs two more steals to end the year as the steals leader. May not get back out there again tonight if the Wolves second unit (plus D-Will) can put away the Spurs in the next couple minutes. -With the Spurs playing Blair & Bonner in the post, a Williams-Cunningham lineup works and is actually quite effective right now. -I'll never understand how Barea gets those layups at the rim over guys who have a whole foot on him! Gotta love it though! -With the Spurs resting their starters in the fourth and the Wolves bench getting it done here, the Wolves may close this one out for their 31st win of the season. MIN leads 10 w/5:50 to play. -Still a lot of time to go, but TWolves are definitely playing well in this one, by no means is this one over though! -Budinger misses a shot, but has a nice heads up play to draw a charge on De Colo to give his team the ball right back, they make it count as Shved knocks down a mid-range jumper off the glass. -Stiemsma is back on the court here for Williams, five minutes to go. -Dante has knocked down consecutive mid-range jumpers to get into double figures and the Wolves now up 103-89 w/3:40 to play. -Then Patty Mills answers with his second three of the night to cut it to an 11-point game. -Just three minutes of Wolves basketball left this season! I've watched probably 79 of the 82 games this year and I'll still miss it! Is it time for Summer League ball yet?! :) -Budinger comes through with the drive and makes the bucket to give him 12 points on the night and 105 for the Wolves. -With 2 minutes to play, the Wolves are up 108-92 and they'll finish this season 31-51, their best record since KG left town. -The Spurs broadcast shows Pop on the sidelines and being a talented lip reader I can tell you he muttered F---! Great analysis all night long! That's what you can expect from me! -And Budinger brings the ball up, he'll let the clock run out and the TWolves win 108-85! It doesn't really mean much, but the Wolves end an injury-riddled and disappointing season with one last win and end the year 2-2 vs. the Spurs. They also end that 16-game skid to the Spurs in San Antonio that dated back to the 2003-04 season! Box Score Ricky Rubio got off to a hot start and had 11 of his 12 total points in the first quarter. He finished with 2 steals on the night, but needed 4 to end the year as the NBA's steals leader.
Derrick Williams added 7 of his 21 in the first and another 7 in the third. Add to that, he set a new career-high with 4 assists! Greg Stiemsma exploded for 10 of his 12 points in the third quarter, he also tied a career-high with 6 made field goals as well as a new career-high with those 5 steals! Chase Budinger scored 10 of his 15 in the fourth and Dante added 8 of his 10 in the fourth to close out the Spurs and nab a victory in this season finale. Popovich rested his stars down the stretch, but Tim Duncan did score 12 of his 17 in the first quarter and finished with 17pts, 14reb, 3ast & 1blk in just 27 minutes!! Tony Parker scored 11 of his 15 in the second quarter and added 8 assists in 27 minutes himself. Patty Mills played all 9 of his minutes in the fourth quarter and hit those 3 three-pointers to finish with 9 on the night. A big part of securing this victory in the second half was allowing the Spurs to shoot just 2 free throws in the final two quarters after going 20-for-20 in the first half! The Timberwolves end the season on a high note, unlike many seasons past. They still head into the offseason with plenty of questions, but entering 2013-14 with Rick Adelman at the helm and a full roster of healthy players is all we can ask for! With the season over and done with, this will be the last Gameday Recap/Preview set until the preseason begins again in October. Until then, we'll have plenty of stories under our "News" section about the Draft, Free Agency and absolutely anything Timberwolves related! As always, I thank you for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Cody D. AndersonA Wolves fan bringing you Gameday Recaps all season long! 2014-15 Game ArchivesGameday Archives
December 2015
|