Wolves record: 4-18
Brian Stensaas/Star Tribune on Tony Parker:
Perhaps what is surprising, though, is that Parker had one point (ONE POINT!!!!) through three quarters. He then threw down 16 in the final 12 minutes – including eight straight for the Spurs to open the quarter – and led them to victory.
Al Jefferson had 29 points and 13 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who have lost eight in a row and three straight since Kevin McHale took over as coach on Monday.
“There are times when it’s tough out there, man,” McHale said. “Anybody’s who has played a lot of years knows that it gets tough. You’ve got to work your way through it. That’s what I keep on telling them.”
The Wolves, who had San Antonio in a 41-41 tie at halftime, lost most of their upbeat spunk in the second half.
Despite allowing Parker to again do his thing, joining Tim Duncan with a team-high 17 points, the Wolves had chances. They got through traffic and to the rim on numerous occasions but could not finish.
Several easy shots — particularly layups — appeared scared of the bottom of the net.
That resulted in players’ heads sagging to the court.
McHale wasn’t happy with all the easy layups the Wolves missed, but he was more upset about the ensuing mental breakdowns.
“The disheartening thing is when we miss them, it just deflates us,” he said. “We’ve got to be stronger than that. I know part of that is being young guys and stuff like that, but still that’s got to stop. You can’t allow some misfortune on the offensive end to allow you to give in on the defensive end. That’s unacceptable.”
Mike Miller made his return and started at shooting guard. He played 32 minutes, but was just 1-for-5 from the floor. Rashad McCants, who had started the past two games at shooting guard, played 22 minutes off the bench and finished with seven points on 3-for-13 shooting…
Though Kevin Love once again struggled on the offensive end, he continued his strong rebounding. He finished with 10 rebounds, including 5 on the offensive end. He now has 100 rebounds in the last eight games, with 47 of them coming at the offensive end.
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