In what was the most entertaining game of the Timberwolves' season so far, and perhaps the NBA as a whole, the Wolves kept their win streak alive with a thrilling come from behind victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs, now losers of 8 straight, came out of the gates looking like the team that has been a staple at the top of the Western Conference for the last decade as they ran up an 11 point lead against the Timberwolves at half time. In the 3rd quarter the lead was extended to as much as 17 before the Timberwolves mounted their comeback.
Lead by the scoring outbursts of Steph Curry and Gerald Green, both of whom finished 6-13 from 3, the Wolves finished the 3rd quarter up one. This set up a back and forth 4th quarter with both teams going on runs. As time wound down it appeared that the Wolves win streak was going to come to an end before Steph Curry channeled his inner Reggie Miller.
Down 3 points with 10 seconds to play and the shot clock running down, Mike Miller missed a corner 3 and Tim Duncan grabbed the rebound. Duncan was promptly fouled and sent to the line for two free throws, both of which he made. After the 2nd made free throw the Wolves took a time out and Terry Stotts drew up an out of bounds play that got Steph Curry open for 3 to cut the game to 2 points. The Wolves promptly fouled Tony Parker on the inbounds pass to send him to the line.
Parker went 2-2 from the line to bring the lead back up to 4 points. The Wolves again took a time out and again Stotts drew up a play that freed up Steph Curry for an open 3 which he hit to cut the lead to 1 point with 2 seconds left. The Wolves missed the steal attempt on the inbounds and fouled Tony Parker sending him to the free throw line with just one second left. Parker calmly knocked down both free throws, however the Spurs made a tactical error and dropped the defense back to half court, allowing Steph Curry to get a clean look at the buzzer.
Despite the devastation they had to be feeling heading into overtime, the Spurs jumped out to a 4 point lead and maintained it for most of overtime, until with just over a minute left Al Jefferson forced a Tim Duncan miss, grabbed the rebound and moved the ball up court to Curry who wisely waited for reinforcements before kicking the ball to Mike Miller in the corner. Miller, who was 2-12 from the field and 0-7 from 3 to that point, got Bruce Bowen to bite on a pump fake, drove to the rim and was fouled as he threw down a dunk. Miller would make the and-1 free throw to cut the Spurs lead to 1 point.
The Wolves and Spurs would trade buckets on the ensuing possessions, setting up the Spurs with a chance to win the game. The Spurs cleared the left side of the floor and ran a pick and roll with Parker and Duncan. The Wolves guarded the play well though and forced a missed layup by Parker and Mo Speights grabbed the rebound and called a timeout with half a second to play. In the huddle, Stotts again drew up a play for Steph Curry, this time however instead of getting free off a pick for an open 3, Curry cut to the rim and got off a layup that sat on the rim and time seemed to stop before gravity took effect and the shot dropped and a sold out Target Center erupted as the Wolves pushed their win streak to 10 games.