Timberwolves roll against San Antonio, defense again accounting for the difference

Sunday night in San Antonio, the Timberwolves played very good defense for all but one quarter.

Turns out three out of four was more than enough.

Up 18 early in the third, but up only three late in that same quarter, the Timberwolves put the game away in the fourth for a 106-92 victory.

Minnesota (14-11) has won six of seven games, evening the season series with the Spurs at 1-1 while avenging a 10-point loss in San Antonio in early November.

The Spurs (13-13) ended a two-game winning streak. Five of Minnesota’s past six opponents have scored 92 or fewer points.

Up 76-70 after three quarters, the Wolves began the fourth on an 11-2 run, going up 15 on a three-point play by Nickeil Alexander-Walker with 7:33 left, and then just kept going.

The Spurs never threatened again.

Anthony Edwards had a game-high 26 points, but he wasn’t the star of this game. That honor goes to Jaden McDaniels, who posted the first double-double of his career. He made both of his three-point attempts while scoring 12 points. He added a career-high 11 rebounds, four steals and an assist. McDaniels has nine steals in his past two games.

Edwards and McDaniels were two of five Wolves players in double figures, two of 12 Minnesota players who scored. Alexander-Walker had 17, Rudy Gobert had 10 points and nine boards. Point guard Mike Conley had nine points, eight assists and five rebounds.

Spurs center Victor Wembanyama scored 20 points with 12 rebounds, seven blocks and five assists.

But three-quarters of this victory was because of the defense, the reason the Wolves were able to win despite shooting an even 40% themselves.

“We missed a lot of shots,” Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson said to reporters in San Antonio, as reported by si.com. “Give them a lot of credit. They’re a heck of a defensive team. We didn’t help ourselves.”

So throw out San Antonio’s 33-point third quarter and focus on the final numbers:

The Spurs shot only 40.7%, a number inflated by some easy buckets late after the game was decided. But San Antonio made only 11 of 45 three-pointers and turned the ball over 18 times, contributing to Minnesota’s 30-14 edge on points off turnovers.

It wasn’t until the start of the fourth quarter that the Wolves put the game away.

Here’s how it happened:

This was all happening while the Spurs struggled to make a shot.

San Antonio made only three of its first 15 fourth-quarter shots as the Wolves' lead continued to grow to as big as 21 at 98-77 on Edwards’ three-point play with three minutes left.

At that point Wolves coach Chris Finch emptied his bench, and the Spurs followed suit. The Wolves reserves pushed the lead to 23 before the Spurs made their final six shots.

Sunday was another chapter in the resurgence of the Wolves’ defense.

Over the past seven games, the Wolves have held opponents under 100 six times, under 90 three times and to an average of 90.7 points, easily the best in the league during that stretch, 21 points better than New York and Oklahoma City, which are tied for second at 102.7.

And that just adds more spice to the Wolves’ game with New York at Target Center on Thursday. Not only is it the homecoming for former Wolves star Karl-Anthony Towns, it is also a matchup of two of the best defenses in the league.