LaMarcus Aldridge did Saturday night what he has done all season, putting the Spurs on his shoulders and carrying them on both ends of the court.
Aldridge had a stellar game with 39 points and 10 rebounds, leading the Silver and Black to a critical 117-101 victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the AT&T Center.
"Good quality win," Aldridge said. "We played good defense better. I thought guys made plays, steals. Guys were active. We kept our composure down the stretch and I thought this was a playoff win for us, basically. I thought we played a good team over there."
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich praised Aldridge and center Pau Gasol, who came off the bench to contribute 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting, seven rebounds and eight assists.
"LA (Aldridge) and Pau were fantastic," Popovich said. "When the two bigs were in there together playing, they were on the board, they were tipping, they were protecting the rim."
Aldridge, who missed matching his season high by two points, hit 14 of 22 shots, including 8 of 9 in the second quarter when he scored 18 points. He also was deadly at the free-throw line, making 11 of 12 attempts.
Minnesota (40-30) and San Antonio (40-30) went into the game in fifth and eighth place, respectively, in the tight Western Conference standings. When the dust settled late Saturday night, the Spurs had inched up to seventh. The top eight teams in each NBA conference advance to the playoffs.
Utah (40-30) beat Sacramento later to create a three-way tie for fifth. Under NBA rules, the tiebreaker goes to the team with the best winning percentage among the three deadlocked teams. Thus, Utah moved from seventh to fifth, with Minnesota and San Antonio following in that order.
San Antonio would move ahead of Minnesota in a two-way tie with the Timberwolves because Saturday night's win clinched the season series for the Spurs. Utah owns the tie-breaker against the Spurs in a two-way deadlock for the same reason.
The Silver and Black, who have 12 games left on their schedule, start the second half of a six-game home stand Monday against defending league champion Golden State. Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m.
Aldridge had only four points and was 0 for 5 from the field after the first quarter. He didn't get his first basket until the 8:02 mark of the second period, but he scored his second on the Spurs' subsequent possession. Aldridge, who scored 22 points in the first half, was virtually unstoppable after that.
"When I missed those first five, I went to the line and my free throw felt great," Aldridge said. "I was like just stay with it, just stay patient. They were kind of doubling on and off early, so I was trying to just be patient with it. Once I found my rhythm, I was good to go."
Aldridge scored all 12 of the Spurs' points in a span of 2:16 in the second quarter, putting San Antonio up 57-44 with 3:06 left in the period. After his 12-0 run, he showed his defensive chops by making a big-time block of a driving layup by Minnesota All-Star forward Karl-Anthony Towns. The block brought a loud roar from the crowd.
The Silver and Black, who made 16 of 19 shots (84 percent) in the second quarter, including 2 of 4 from beyond the arc, outscored the Wolves 38-26 in the period and led 61-50 at the half.
Rudy Gay came off the bench to score 14 points for the Spurs, who also got double-figure scoring from Danny Green (12), Patty Mills (12) and Manu Ginobili (10).
"Great game," Ginobili said. "Of course, it is easy to see what LaMarcus did, 39 points and all those boards, big plays. But Pau was great. Rudy, the second half, was amazing. Some big plays, defensive rebounds.
"We are in a good spot at this point. ''I wasn't that optimistic a week ago about us getting all these wins, facing Minnesota and playing a good game. We got it. We've got to keep building.''
Gay sparked a Spurs bench that outscored the Wolves' reserves 46-26.
Aldridge and Gasol caused problems for the Wolves on both ends of the court.
"I think it's important the way LA and I are on the floor when we play, and we capitalize on opportunities and do what we do best. So I thought it was great that tonight it worked out. We were able to share some more minutes than the last few games, so we'll see if we can keep doing it."
Towns and Andrew Wiggins led Minnesota's scoring with 23 and 21 points, respectively.
Ahead 90-81 going into the fourth quarter, the Spurs outscored the Wolves 27-20 in the final period. The Wolves drew to within six points (92-92) for the third time in the fourth quarter on two free throws by Towns with 8:28 left, but Aldridge put the Silver and Black up by double digits again back-to-back baskets. San Antonio's lead never got below double digits after that.
Minnesota was on top 24-23 after one quarter, but the Spurs finished the period on an 8-0 run after falling behind 24-15. San Antonio stretched the run to 16-4 in the second quarter, and never trailed again after Gay scored on a layup that put the Spurs up 27-26 with 10:44 left in the half.
The Silver and Black settled down in the second quarter and played one of their most efficient games of the season. San Antonio shot 51 percent (49/96) for the game, and made 6 of 26 three-point attempts. The Spurs had 32 assists on their 49 field goals, and had a season-low five turnovers.
But it was defense that set the tone for the Silver and Black, who finished with eight blocks and 11 steals while forcing 16 turnovers.
The Silver and Black shot only 33.3 percent (9/27) in the first quarter but warmed up in the second. They finished the half shooting 54.3 percent (25/46) and 25 percent (3/12) from the three-point line.
"We had them cold in the first, but the second unit and everyone on their team, from top to bottom, just did a good job with just playing hard," Wolves forward Taj Gibson said. "It wasn't just one individual. It was a collective team that did a good job.
"You had your oldest player (40-year-old Ginobili) on your team diving and setting screens, in there rebounding the ball. At one point, he caught a dunk, a tough play. That's going to set the tone for the team. It's not just one individual."
