San Antonio Spurs vs. Minnesota Timberwolves: Cold Spell in Minneapolis

The San Antonio Spurs were manhandled on the road by the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

The final score was 89-128, but their performance was much worse than any scoreboard could tell. San Antonio couldn’t stop Minnesota’s three-point barrage and the Spurs starters couldn’t take the lid off of the basket.

You could tell it was going to be a long 48 minutes from the first whistle. The San Antonio Spurs got down big early and never really came close again.

Patty Mills led a charge to draw the Spurs within three points at the end of the first quarter but quickly fell silent as the game progressed. San Antonio racked up just 34 points by halftime and scored a season-low nine points in the second quarter.

It was all downhill from there as the Silver and Black would go on to trail by as many as 48 points in the second half. I wouldn’t blame Spurs fans for ditching this disappointing matchup and you didn’t miss much if you tuned out early.

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The Timberwolves played inspired defense and locked up the lanes. The Spurs responded by firing away from three-point land, but their 8-of-27 shooting from beyond the arc wasn’t quite enough to make a dent in Minnesota’s massive lead.

San Antonio coughed up the ball 18 times and their stars were held in check all night long. LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan combined for a meager 20 points with a whopping 7 turnovers in their worst collective outing of the season.

Although the referees enforced tick-tack fouls and missed several calls, the Spurs have no one but themselves to blame for a miserable loss in Minnesota. Frustration mounted, posters were printed, and there were airballs aplenty.

Despite a terrible game, a few players shined for San Antonio’s second unit. Quincy Pondexter and Jakob Poeltl produced nice numbers in garbage time and kept the deficit from spiraling into a historic blowout.

The duo chipped in 27 points in 32 minutes of action and even provided a few highlights in an otherwise disappointing contest. Though their production came too late to make an impact on the outcome, perhaps their solid execution of the playbook will earn them more minutes in Coach Pop’s rotation.

That Poeltl pick-and-roll ? https://t.co/OI7kwN8WIY

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) November 29, 2018

Wednesday night was the worst loss of the season and San Antonio looked like a lottery team. While I’m not ready to say the Spurs will miss the playoffs just yet, they’re certainly headed towards an early offseason if they continue to underachieve.

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San Antonio has battled incredible inconsistency as they’ve struggled to stay competitive on the road this year. Thankfully, the Spurs will return home to host the equally discombobulated Houston Rockets on Friday.

Houston is coming off an embarrassing loss at home to the surging Mavericks and the Spurs could use a dysfunctional opponent right about now. The Rockets are dealing with injuries and internal issues of their own, so San Antonio should strike while the iron’s hot.