Spurs hold off Wolves to sweep road trip

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The San Antonio Spurs shook off a slow start as they held on for a 116-113 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves (-) at the Target Center on Friday night.

The win was the second straight for the Spurs, who swept their brief two-game trip. San Antonio has won 16 of their last 22 games overall as the All-Star break approaches in just a few weeks.

Here is what went good and bad for the Spurs, as well as three standout players: LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Gay, and Marco Belinelli.

The Good:
  • The Spurs rallied for the win despite a poor first quarter. San Antonio struggled to shoot the ball and trailed 31-28 after 12 minutes of play.
  • San Antonio got the win without their leading scorer, DeMar DeRozan, who missed the game with a sore ankle.
  • Gay and Aldridge combined for 47 of San Antonio’s 116 points.
The Bad:
  • The Spurs came out slow for the second straight game, a trend that could hurt them against the wrong team.
Three Standout Players:

LaMarcus Aldridge:

The Spurs forward dominated down low in the post and came up big down the stretch as the Silver and Black came away with the win.

Aldridge finished with 25 points and nine rebounds as he banged in the paint with Karl Anthony-Towns, getting him to foul trouble. Towns would eventually foul out in the fourth quarter for just the second time this season. That would leave Aldridge to go to work against Taj Gibson and the rest was history for the Wolves.

Rudy Gay:

The forward finished with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting and picked up from where he left off in Dallas.

Gay really picked up his game in the final quarter as he slashed his way through the Minnesota defense and hit a few big jumpers to put the Spurs up five with less than four minutes to play in the game.

The Spurs will be hoping Gay can continue to elevate his game as the All-Star break approaches so the team can make a big run in the second half of the season.

Marco Belinelli:

The Italian and fan favorite seems to have finally found his role on the team and given his past few outings, he is starting to play like it.

Belinelli scored 19 points off the bench and went 3-for-8 from three-point range.

If the Spurs can stay healthy, they could have a shot at a top-five seed as the race to the playoffs picks up in the second half of the season.

UP NEXT:

The Spurs are now 27-20 on the season and will return to the court on Sunday when they welcome the LA Clippers (-) to the AT&T Center at 6 pm Central Time.

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