The Minnesota Timberwolves will face the San Antonio Spurs tonight in an NBA basketball game that will live stream free online from the A T & T Center in San Antonio, Texas at 7:00 PM ET.
The Spurs host the most dangerous .500 team in the league, as the Minnesota Timberwolves return to San Antonio tonight.
The teams last played on December 13th, when the Spurs, riding a 16-point fourth quarter from Manu Ginobili, defeated the Wolves, 117-110. The Spurs used execution and experience down the stretch to outscore Minnesota 37-21.
Minnesota dominated much of that game behind 42 points from Kevin Love, but the lack of efficiency and execution down the stretch against San Antonio a month ago still illustrates the issues that a very talented Minnesota team faces.
The T'Wolves are one of the most exciting and dangerous teams in the league, despite an 18-18 record that would have them looking from the outside-in on the playoffs if the season ended today. Minnesota is second in the league in scoring, averaging 107.6 points per game. The T'Wolves are also in the top five in assists and rebounds per game, but Minnesota ranks 24th in points allowed per game.
Minnesota is the definition of inconsistent and a look at their recent schedule illustrates that point. The T'Wolves have alternated wins and losses for the past two weeks and are 3-2 in 2014 with wins over New Orleans, Philadelphia and Charlotte and losses to Oklahoma City and Phoenix. Minnesota hasn't won two-straight games since December 28th and the T'Wolves are coming off a Friday night win over Charlotte where center Nikola Pekovic scored 26 points to lead the way.
This is a game where the San Antonio guards and wing players will need to attack the basket. As good as Kevin Love can be on the offensive glass, he is not a threatening presence on defense. Minnesota averages just 3.11 blocks per game. And the backcourt of Ricky Rubio and Kevin Martin has trouble staying in front of opposing guards. Guys like Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Marco Belinelli should have matchup advantages on the offensive side of the court.
This game will come down to which team makes shots. Minnesota will likely have success on the offensive glass, but it will be San Antonio's ability to guard that will lead to a Spurs victory.
Matchup to watch: Boris Diaw will need a big game for the Spurs to win this game without Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili and it won't necessarily need to be a big game on the stat sheet. Minnesota is going to attack the glass and try to get second-chance points all night on the offensive end, especially if shots aren't falling from outside. Diaw isn't going to out-athletic many people, but he'll need to play sound fundamental defense and block out for San Antonio to have a chance to out-execute Minnesota down the stretch.
The game will be broadcast live on the FSSW television network as well as live streamed on https://nbalivestreamfree.net/
