TV: TNT Minnesota Timberwolves(46-21) @ San Antonio Spurs(44-23) Series: Tied 1-1 Last Meeting: Timberwolves 92 @ Spurs 94 Previous Game Blazers 92 @ Timberwolves 83 Spurs 87 @ Kings 101 Streaks Timberwolves: Lost 1 (5-5 in last ten) Spurs: Lost 1 (7-3 in last ten) Head Coaches vs. Probable Starters PG: vs. Parker vs. Cassell SG: vs. Turkoglu vs. Hassell SF: vs. Bowen vs. Sprewell PF: vs. Duncan vs. Garnett C: vs. Nesterovic vs. Olowokandi 6th Men vs. Ginobili vs. Hudson Players to Watch vs. Duncan: 22.9 Points (.490 FG %), 3.1 Assists, 12.8 Rebounds Garnett: 24.7 Points (.498 FG %), 5.0 Assists, 13.9 Rebounds Will Not Play San Antonio Matt Carroll Alex Garcia Sean Marks Minnesota Timberwolves Ndudi Ebi Keys to the Game <u>San Antonio:</u> <ul> [*]Stop Garnett (Garnett is not happy with the way the team is playing right now, so don't be surprised if he has to take the game into his own hands) [*]Stop the outside attack (The Wolves are an excellent perimeter team. They have threats in Cassell, Sprewell, Szczerbiak, Hoiberg, Hudson, and Garnett) [*]Get Duncan involved early (The Wolves are having trouble coming back and winning, they need to lead at the beginning) [*]Hit jump shots (There is a no fly zone down low with Garnett and Olowokandi, so driving is very difficult. They will have to resort to a lot of jumpers, so they must be hot from the outside) [*]Keep Sprewell down (Sprewell has been a really bad slump lately, and when he plays bad, he seems to drag the whole team down with him)[/list] <u>Minnesota Timberwolves:</u> <ul> [*]Zone defense (Very critical in this game. Must play solid defense and must make them make bad passes) [*]Get the ball down low (We seem to settle for a lot of jumpers, we need to get it in the post more. It will be hard to get some points down there with Duncan, but the Wolves have two scoring threats to reckon with down low now) [*]Limit Duncan (We need to stop Duncan before he gets started) [*]Rebound (Getting rebounds is always good) [*]Get a good rotation (This is a main reason for our slump. Flip needs to figure out how to handle deep teams such as our own. He seems to not know when to take guys out or leave guys in) [/list] twolvefan11's Prediction The Wolves just lost to the Blazers, but have shown that they can bounce back against a title contender. I think we will be prepared for this one, and Duncan is a little bit hurt, so he might be a little sore. I'm going out on a limb and saying Timberwolves by 4.
Should be a great one, and it is a tossup. Both teams are good, but keep in mind that the Spurs are usually good at home..
Man the Wolves are playing really inconsistant lately. There a great team, but are have trouble winning games lately. The Spurs are a very good basketball team to and this will be a struggle for the Wolves to win. I'm rooting for the Wolves all the way in this one, but I just can't see them winning this game.
They started chocking already before they even made the play-offs..I was waiting for this to happen..Just so i can prove to everyone..THE WOLVES ARE NOT GETTING OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND..I said it first!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting J-O'Neal-7:</div><div class="quote_post">They started chocking already before they even made the play-offs..I was waiting for this to happen..Just so i can prove to everyone..THE WOLVES ARE NOT GETTING OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND..I said it first!</div> Every team has it's ups and downs, and even as a Laker fan I can tell you that the Wolves will probably make it out of the 1st round (as much as I would love to see them fail once again) and maybe even to the conference finals or even further, depending on who they play.
The Wolves need to bounce back from the loss against the Blazers today.Tim Duncan is back but I don't think he will contribute that much in this game because I don't think he is up to 100% yet.The Spurs and the Wolves are both great teams but the Wolves are still struggling right now.This should be a great game and a close one with great defense.I predict that the Wolves win by 4.
