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Spurs at Wolves
7:00 pm CST
FS North
Here's a similarity: The Wolves and Spurs both played and lost last night in road games.
And another: They both have 2nd year wing players from UCLA on their squads. And European point guards. And Hall of Fame big men winding down their careers.
And...that's about it for the similarities.
This will be a short and sweet game thread since I don't have to tell you much about the Spurs. They are one of the two best teams in the league yet again, with the top rated defense and third best offense in the NBA. They are incredibly deep, have tons of talented veterans, and are once again in the mix to win a championship.
The Wolves of course are none of those things: They are young, callow, lack depth, and have trouble defending even mediocre offenses. In addition, their key guys played very heavy minutes last night in Charlotte.
The first two meetings between these teams both resulted in Spurs wins, the first one a rout, the second one a six point contest that was close most of the way. In both, the Spurs shot well over 50% from the field as they shredded the Wolves defense, something everyone seems to be doing now.
One thing to keep your eye on tonight is the match up between Andrew Wiggins and Kawhi Leonard. This is a terrific challenge for Wiggins who will be going up against one of the top two way stars in the league.
There is hope, however. Not surprisingly, Gregg Popovich has decided to rest several of his guys tonight on the 2nd night of a back to back. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker will not play tonight for the Spurs. This is disappointing on more than one level, but it might mean that Duncan never plays in Target Center again, which is too bad for the fans.
The Spurs still have plenty of talent available to them tonight. Hopefully the Wolves can bring some energy to the contest.
Expected lineups
Spurs
Andre Miller
Danny Green
Kawhi Leonard
David West
LaMarcus Aldridge
The Professor gets the start for the Spurs.
Wolves
Ricky Rubio
Zach LaVine
Andrew Wiggins
Gorgui Dieng
Karl-Anthony Towns
Our blogging buddies are over at Pounding The Rock. Be excellent.
No pics etc.
Enjoy, chat, go.