SAN ANTONIO — Final: Spurs 116, Timberwolves 113
It was a a tense 60 minutes of basketball, but San Antonio weathered the storm and notched win No. 27 on the season despite a late scratch of their leading scorer, DeMar DeRozan, who sat out with a sore left ankle.
LaMarcus Aldridge tallied a game-high 25 points as the Spurs shot 50 percent from the field.
San Antonio next takes on the Clippers at home on Sunday evening.
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ICE in his veins! With just 4.2 seconds to play, Marco Belinelli all but cemented a Spurs victory by sinking two shots from the charity stripe.
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With 4:45 to go in the matchup, the Spurs are clinging to a 105-101 lead. The whole game up to this point has been a dramatic, back-and-forth affair, and the winner of this one is really going to have to want it.
Aldridge has a game-high 23 points, while Patty Mills has dished out eight assists.
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Rudy Gay is going nuts for his squad. He scored five straight points for the Silver and Black in the fourth as they maintain a very narrow lead over the Timberwolves.
Third Quarter: Spurs 88, Timberwolves 90
The Spurs have continued to claw and scratch and fight to keep up with Minnesota in this matchup without their leading scorer. Just two points is the different heading into the final period of play in Minnesota.
Aldridge is tied for the game-high in points with 19 tallied.
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With 3:10 to go in the quarter, Bertans put a cherry on top of the Spurs' sweet, sweet rally with a bucket from downtown to tie up the affair.
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San Antonio followed the Timberwolves' run with a scoring spurt of their own, rattling off a 9-2 tun of their own to pull back within three points of the home team.
Aldridge was one reason why.
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Minnesota finally began to put some distance between themselves and the Spurs four minutes in, embarking on a 9-0 run over 1:16 of play to grab a 76-67 lead.
A Rudy Gay layup finally put a damper on the bleeding.
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The opening minutes of the third period had the same template as the previous two quarters: Both teams fighting to gain momentum.
On the Silver and Black's end, Bryn Forbes was doing his part.
Second Quarter: Spurs 58, Timberwolves 58
Free throws on free throws on free throws.
The Spurs took the lead once again after a pair of free throws by Rudy Gay, the fifth and sixth attempts from the charity stripe in nine seconds of game time.
Mills and Wiggins then exchanged buckets for their respective teams to try and grab momentum heading into the locker room. As time expired, Karl-Anthony Towns made two free-throw attempts to pull the 'Wolves even with San Antonio at halftime, 58-58
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A layup by Aldridge gave the Spurs a narrow one-point lead once more with just three minutes to go in the half.
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Minnesota controlled the tempo for the first few minutes of the second quarter, but Aldridge is one reason San Antonio remained within striking distance.
First Quarter: Spurs 28, Timberwolves 31
The opening period ended in frantic fashion, and it was the Timberwolves who came out on top for an early three-point lead.
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With just over two minutes to go in a slow-paced opening frame, White sank a bucket to give his team a 20-19 lead.
Oh, and you bet he looked good doing it.
White has a team-high seven points so far.
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San Antonio was struggling early to contain Minnesota's third-leading scorer, as Andrew Wiggins began the night going 3-3 from the field for seven total points.
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LaMarcus Aldridge and Derrick White were synced up early, and this beautiful sequence is evidence.
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Buckets were difficult to come by in the early moments of Friday's game for both teams. Through nearly five minutes of play, the Spurs and 'Wolves combined for only 14 points.
Pregame
Shortly before tipoff, the Spurs announced that their leading scorer this season would be out with injury.
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Two days after the Spurs rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat the Mavericks in Rudy Gay's return, the Silver and Black are facing off against a Timberwolves team that's gone 5-5 in its last 10 games.
The Silver and Black (26-20) have an even .500 record in their last eight road matchups as they continue their season turnaround. Entering Friday night's bout, they occupy the sixth spot in the Western Conference Standings.
Aldridge, DeRozan and Co. will be looking to overcome ghosts of blowouts past on Friday; their last trip to Minnesota in November resulted in a 39-point defeat, still their most lopsided loss of the season.
Tipoff is at 7 p.m. Central Time. Follow along here for quarter-by-quarter updates and analysis.
