MINNEAPOLIS _ For years we've seen this.
Literally, years.
The Wolves would start well, play hard, hold a lead and lose to a San Antonio Spurs team that has offensive execution in its blood and a winning tradition that runs deep.
Not Wednesday.
In yet another sign that the Wolves are taking steps, in front of a sellout crowd of 18,987 at Target Center, the Wolves built a lead and kept it.
Minnesota's 98-86 victory over the Spurs ended a 12-game losing streak to San Antonio. It was Minnesota's first vs. the Spurs since April of 2014.
And it came with Jimmy Butler fighting through a 2-for-13 evening.
Ignited by strong bench play that began in the second quarter, the Wolves got double-figure scoring from Karl-Anthony Towns (26 points, 16 rebounds), Jeff Teague (16 points), Andrew Wiggins and Nemanja Bjelica (11 each) and 10 from Taj Gibson while improving their record to 9-5.
After a stone-cold first quarter, the Wolves took the lead in the second quarter, took control in the second, held fast in the third and finished the game in the fourth.
The Spurs (9-6) got double-figure scoring from four of five starters, led by LaMarcus Aldridge's 15 points while playing without starters Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker. But, remember, a similarly-short-handed Spurs team beat the Wolves in San Antonio on opening night.
Up 13 early in fourth quarter after a Towns 3-pointer, the Spurs, with Aldridge beginning to assert himself, came back.
Danny Green's 3-pointer forced a Wolves timeout with 9:28 left and the lead down to seven.
Four straight free throws by Aldridge pulled the Spurs within five with 7:24 left.
But then Taj Gibson scored on a baseline move. After a Spurs turnover, Andrew Wiggins fed Teague on the break for a corner three that pushed the Wolves lead back to 10 with 5:33 left.
From there the Wolves did just what it needed to do, dominating the boards and getting stops down the stretch.
Given the fact the Wolves came out of the gate unable to shoot straight, the fact Minnesota trailed by just six points entering the second.
The Wolves led early, up 5-0 to start the game, and 9-6 on Towns' basket. But then Minnesota went cold. The Wolves made just seven of 26 shots in the first quarter (26.9 percent) while the Spurs shot 50 percent and got 15 bench points in the first, which ended with San Antonio leading 24-18 on consecutive 3-pointers by reserve guard Bryn Forbes.
The second quarter was an absolutely, completely different story.
Ice-cold in the first, the Wolves were red-hot in the second, hitting on 17 of 22 shots.
And it started with the bench.
Minnesota was down 28-18 early in the second when the Wolves reserves took over. Muhammad scored seven points in a 13-2 run that put the Wolves up 31-30 on Muhammad's corner 3-pointer, his first made 3 of the season.
That was the spark the Wolves needed, and it transitioned from the bench back to the starters; starting with Muhammad's dunk with 11:13 left in the half to Towns' dunk with 4:33 left, the wolves hit 12 straight shots for Minnesota, which ended the half on a 39-15 run to take a 57-43 lead into halftime. The Wolves _ who held the Spurs to 8-for-20 shooting in the second, got 10 second-quarter points from Towns, nine from Muhammad and seven from Teague.
Not surprisingly, the Spurs came out strong in the second quarter.
Limited by foul trouble to four first-half points, Spurs forward Aldridge started warming up, scoring six points in a 15-6 run to start the third that cut the Wolves' 14-point lead to five.
It was still at five moments later when the bench gave the Wolves another boost.
Up 67-62, Wiggins scored off a turnovers, then Bjelica scored three straight baskets _ two on the break and one on a drive _ to push the lead to 13 before San Antonio scored the final three points of the quarter.
