Even though they'd only won nine games all season long heading into Saturday night's contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the San Antonio Spurs couldn't tell you which of those wins was their best victory of the season. That changed on Saturday thanks to a 113-112 triumph against a Timberwolves team that started the night tied for first place in the Western Conference.
“This one was definitely the best win. From the team that we played, to the crowd being into it, to big time shots, big time stops,” Devin Vassell responded when ClutchPoints asked if this qualified as the team's top moment of a very tough season.
“I thought we've been on the other end of this when we have a good game. We're playing a team, we get down and in the last couple of minutes they go on a run and they end up winning the game even though we played a great game. So, it's good for us to finally come out on the other side of it,” Vassell continued.
Hall of Fame Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich concurred.
“It's the best win we've had.”
Devin Vassell, Spurs deliver clutch plays in crunch time
Though they trailed for the overwhelming majority of the first three quarters, San Antonio never looked like the worst team in their conference, as they managed to stay within striking distance of the Timberwolves for much of the night. In the fourth quarter, they outplayed the best in the West, combining to hit big shot after big shot after big shot.
“As a team we stepped up and made big plays down the stretch and we got stops. That was the main thing. That's big time right there. That's big time. We all did it together,” Keldon Johnson said.
True to form, Johnson, the Spurs third leading scorer, finished third on the team against Minnesota with 14 points. Vassell led the Silver and Black with 25, while Victor Wembanyama contributed 23. Jeremy Sochan, Tre Jones and Doug McDermott added 13, 12, and nine points respectively, and all six of these guys scored in a fourth quarter that saw the Spurs rally from a ten-point deficit to begin the period.
Spurs manage to hold on for the win
The Spurs needed all 48 minutes to improve to 10-36. Karl-Anthony Towns got a decent look at what would have been a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer. But points 20, 21, and 22 were not to be for the Timberwolves star big man, as the shot hit the rim and fell short.
“I was told to leave my guy and prevent [Karl-Anthony Towns] from catching it in the post, which would have led to a mismatch,” Wembanyama said, “So, it did work out. It was a little bit of a scramble, but it worked out pretty well. I haven't seen it again, but the job they did on [Anthony Edwards] on the ball, I think it was phenomenal.”
“We stepped up on the defensive end, We made sure that Ant [Edwards] didn't get the last shot and we lived with whoever else was going to shoot it,” Vassell echoed.
The Spurs won for the second time in as many nights after beating the Portland Trail Blazers with ease on Friday. They've won three of their last five games and have won five times over the last two and a half weeks after winning five games over the first two-and-a-half months of the season.
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