Wayne Ellington scored 17 points for the Timberwolves, who have lost eight in a row and 14 of their last 15 games. They actually held a lead midway through the second quarter, but San Antonio outscored them 26-8 over the next eight minutes to send them hurtling to yet another loss in a season full of them.
“They need a win is what they need,” coach Kurt Rambis said. “Guys establish winning attitudes and losing attitudes and right now, our guys feel when things go bad, it’s here we go again.”
On Friday night, San Antonio didn’t wait that long. After a lackadaisical quarter-and-a-half and trailing by six, San Antonio exploded for a 34-10 run. They eventually built a 20-point lead, allowing them to give some of their starters a short night. In particular, DeJuan Blair was the beneficiary of the minutes normally reserved for Tim Duncan.
“It was great to get a short night,” Duncan said. “We got [a game] tomorrow and it’s good to get a win like this and go back home and gear it up to go again tomorrow.”
The Spurs are dealing with their own injury woes with Tony Parker missing at least six weeks after he broke a bone in his hand on March 6. Parker’s replacement, George Hill filled in nicely by scoring 19 points and dishing out eight assists for San Antonio. Manu Ginobili contributed seven dimes, focusing on spreading the basketball instead of lighting up the box score.
Small forward Richard Jefferson bounced back from a tough stretch of games with 19 points to improve the Spurs to 38-25 on the season.
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