SAN ANTONIO _ It may not seem like it, but it wasn't that long ago that all seemed right with the Timberwolves. In the wake of the Jimmy Butler trade to the 76ers, the Wolves were rolling and had morphed into one of the best defenses in the league. They were a team that blew out the same Spurs squad they met Friday night.
Those days seem antiquated given the last few weeks the Wolves have had, a stretch that continued in miserable fashion with a 124-98 loss to the Spurs in San Antonio at AT&T Arena.
The Wolves have now lost six of their past seven games and their stretch of futility on the road against Western Conference opponents continued where it began on the first night of the season, with the Wolves falling to 0-12 in such games.
To add injury to the insult, point guard Derrick Rose left the game because of a sore left ankle, complicating matter for the Wolves at that position. A sore left ankle is the same ailment that is sidelining regular starter Jeff Teague for at least another week.
The Spurs deployed a similar strategy against the Wolves that Kings and Pistons found success with recently _ shoot as many 3s as you could. It says something about the Wolves' 3-point defense, fifth-worst in the league entering Friday, when the team that takes the fewest attempts per game made it their mission to fire away.
The Spurs entered taking a league low 23.8 3s per game, but they eclipsed that mark early in the fourth quarter and as was the problem late Wednesday against the Pistons and in Sacramento _ it seemed like the Spurs couldn't miss. They entered the game first in 3-point percentage and continued that despite the high volume of attempts. beyond the arc (19 of 33, 58 percent) Marco Belinelli hit five of nine for 17 points while Davis Bertrans contributed five of seven for 15 points. Bryn Forbes added three 3s as he led the Spurs with a game-high 22. The Wolves didn't even try to match that pace, shooting just 6 for 21 from 3-point range and 33 of 82 overall for the game. Andrew Wiggins had 15 to lead the Wolves on 3 for 11 shooting.
The Wolves played an uneven first quarter and only trailed the Spurs 29-21 after one. But the first quarter was just the prelude, the wiring of the dynamite before the explosion that was the Spurs' second quarter.
Whether he was coming off screens or creating room on his own, Belinelli was able to find the space to snap off five 3-pointers in the first half with four of them falling through the hoop. The Spurs led 35-25 through the early minutes of the second quarter before three Belinelli 3-pointers punctuated a 14-2 run that put the Spurs ahead 49-29.
The Wolves were able to limit DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge and hold them to 6 of 15 shooting, but the Spurs' supporting was able to take advantage of the increased attention the Wolves were paying those two. The rest of the Spurs shot 17 of 29 for the half, including 10 of 17 from 3-point range.
The Wolves cut the Spurs lead to as little as 12 in the third quarter and entered the fourth trailing 87-71. Then Forbes, Belinelli and Bertrans hit 3-pointers in the opening 2:14 of the fourth quarter to put the Spurs up 24, a fitting way to send the Wolves to their latest loss.
