NBA

Minnesota Timberwolves at San Antonio Spurs

· National Basketball Association
Final
103 - 113

3-3, 2-1 Home

Johnson and Paul lead Spurs past Timberwolves 113-103 as Popovich misses game with illness

McDaniels gets a fist full of Sochan's jersey after fight for loose ball

Jeremy Sochan added 19 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio, and Victor Wembanyama had 17 points and six rebounds.

The 39-year-old Paul became the second-oldest player in NBA history with 10 assists in consecutive games. Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton of the Utah Jazz accomplished the feat at age 41.

Julius Randle scored 21 points and Anthony Edwards had 18 for Minnesota, playing on the second night of a back-to-back. The Timberwolves arrived at their hotel in San Antonio about 4:15 a.m. after rallying in the final minutes to defeat Denver 119-116 at home Friday night.

Takeaways Timberwolves: Randle was 8 for 15 from the field while attacking Wembanyama with a series of drives, left-handed floaters and hook shots. Rudy Gobert went 3 for 8, getting his shot blocked twice by Wembanyama.

Spurs: Paul is averaging 16 points after scoring just six in his first two games with San Antonio. Paul had his second straight double-double, raising his career total to 529. He is second to LeBron James (575) in double-doubles among active players.

Key moment San Antonio showed off its blossoming defensive prowess on a series of plays late in the first half to preserve a precarious lead. Johnson stole the ball from Donte DiVincenzo with 38 seconds left in the second quarter. The turnover led to an alley-oop dunk by Wembanyama that put the Spurs up 62-57. Wembanyama then rushed over to block Gobert at the rim, swatting his attempted dunk out of his hands and off the backboard with six seconds remaining.

Key stat San Antonio had 11 turnovers for the second straight game after averaging 17.2 to start the season. The Spurs had a season-high 22 turnovers in a 105-93 loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday. Since then, San Antonio has had 22 combined turnovers in winning consecutive games.

Up next The Timberwolves host Charlotte on Monday, while the Spurs visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday.

Regular Season Series

SA leads series 1-0

Matchup Prediction

Spurs: 29.0%
Timberwolves: 71.0%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 103 - 113
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 103 - 113
4th 6.1 Josh Minott makes dunk (Rob Dillingham assists) 103 - 113
4th 11.0 Luka Garza defensive rebound 101 - 113
4th 13.0 Blake Wesley misses two point shot 101 - 113

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/min.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originMIN https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/sa.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originSA
39-82 FG 43-83
47.6 Field Goal % 51.8
11-37 3PT 13-42
29.7 Three Point % 31.0
14-20 FT 14-17
70.0 Free Throw % 82.4
32 Rebounds 44
6 Offensive Rebounds 7
26 Defensive Rebounds 37
21 Assists 32
7 Steals 6
2 Blocks 5
12 Turnovers 11
1 Team Turnovers 2
13 Total Turnovers 13
1 Technical Fouls 2
1 Total Technical Fouls 2
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
18 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 14
18 Fast Break Points 2
46 Points in Paint 52
16 Fouls 16
7 Largest Lead 19

Game Information

Frost Bank Center

Location: San Antonio, TX
Attendance: 18,257 · Capacity:

2024-25 Northwest Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Oklahoma City 23 5 .821 - W8
Denver 16 11 .593 6.5 W2
Minnesota 14 14 .500 9 L3
Portland 9 20 .310 14.5 L2
Utah 7 21 .250 16 L1

2024-25 Southwest Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Houston 20 9 .690 - W3
Memphis 20 10 .667 0.5 L1
Dallas 19 10 .655 1 W2
San Antonio 15 14 .517 5 L1
New Orleans 5 25 .167 15.5 L7
Full Standings

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