Manu Ginobili scored 26 points, 14 of them in the fourth quarter, and the NBA-leading San Antonio Spurs rallied from a 21-point deficit to defeat Minnesota 113-109 in over-time.The Spurs won their 12th game in a row on Wednesday, improving to 13-1 and stretching their Southwest division lead over New Orleans to two games. The Timberwolves, the NBA's youngest team, fell to 4-12 with a 13th loss in a row to the Spurs."I thought there was no chance we were going to win it," Ginobili said. "We were down 20, nothing was falling, we're not playing with the kind of aggressiveness and energy that you need to overcome a deficit like that."I thought it was going to be a loss. Then slowly, very slowly, we started to recover. "San Antonio, which began the night leading the NBA with a 44-percent accuracy rate from 3-point range, went 2-for-19 from beyond the arc before finally hitting stride by sinking six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.The Spurs' Gary Neal was fouled on a 3-point shot with 16.2 seconds to play in the fourth quarter and sank all three of his free throws to pull San Antonio level at 106-106 and force over-time.Matt Bonner sank a 3-pointer with 49 seconds remaining in over-time to give the Spurs their first lead of the game and the visitors held off Minnesota down the stretch to secure the comeback triumph and keep the win streak going."I don't even notice it," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
"Every game is a game and we don't even think about it. We'll lose our share. It will end like every other streak."The Spurs have not lost since falling to New Orleans in their second game of the season."Our guys showed really good perseverance and that it's a 48-minute game," Popovich said. "If you just keep chugging, something can happen for you and it worked for us. We're thrilled with the victory."San Antonio's Richard Jefferson scored 19 points and Frenchman Tony Parker added 18 points and six assists for the Spurs, who also had nine points and 13 rebounds from Tim Duncan.Kevin Love scored 32 points and grabbed 22 rebounds for Minnesota, which also had 22 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots from Darko Milicic, who said a third squandered fourth-quarter lead has become a mental problem."The few games that we lost, it kind of got in our heads," Milicic said. "We're thinking too much. We're just not enjoying playing basketball in the fourth quarter. It's kind of like we're scared to win. I don't know why."
- Subscribe to nba news using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
