San Antonio 103, Timberwolves 90

Spurs starters played sparingly as they prepared to make a run at another NBA title. It was a learning experience for Minnesota.

By Kent Youngblood, Star Tribune

Last update: April 17, 2006 - 4:10 AM

Call it a tense battle.

The San Antonio Spurs, in town Sunday to play the Timberwolves, are living in the present tense. For the Wolves? It's all about the future.

The Spurs are looking to repeat as champions when the NBA playoffs start this week. The Wolves still were looking at a list of younger players who might help them return to the playoffs a year from now.

In a 103-90 Spurs victory at Target Center in front of an announced crowd of 15,231 --a very, very quiet crowd -- the Spurs showed the young Wolves how far they have to go. San Antonio played its starters sparingly, appearing more businesslike than inspired, and still took a relatively leisurely step toward the Western Conference top seed.

The victory moved the Spurs' magic number in that regard to 1, and it stayed there when Dallas won Sunday night.

The Wolves? Intentionally or not, they kept themselves competitive in the NBA lottery sweepstakes.

But did it have to be this ugly? True, the Wolves were once again without Kevin Garnett and Ricky Davis. But after a competitive first quarter, the Spurs outscored the Wolves 30-14 in the second quarter, then opened the third with a 12-2 run for a 68-37 lead that had some folks thinking past tense. As in, "So that's what it was like around here before Garnett joined the franchise."

It was another learning experience.

"We came out with too much respect at the beginning of the game," Wolves coach Dwane Casey said. "And we were on our heels instead of coming out and attacking. In the second half, we competed. We did a better job of scoring."

In the second half, most of the Spurs starters were sitting to allow the team's depth to bring the victory home. Of course, when you can bring guys like Michael Finley and Robert Horry off the bench, it helps.

Meanwhile, the Wolves got 25 points from Marcus Banks, 20 from Rashad McCants and 13 from Bracey Wright, the latter two off the bench. Oh, and they got another demonstration of what it will take to rise back near the top of the Western Conference.

"San Antonio has taken themselves to the top of this league, and they've done it consistently over the last eight, 10 years," Mark Madsen said. "I believe we can get there."

To that end, Casey once again gave heavy minutes to the likes of Banks, McCants, Eddie Griffin and Justin Reed. Griffin and Reed, each having a down game, combined for only four points.

"It's a great learning experience for all these guys," Casey said. "We are seeing a lot of growth by Marcus and McCants and also Bracey Wright. Defensively we still have to read situations, when to go over screens, know who you are guarding and how to guard them. That comes with time."

Meantime, there are games like this: The Spurs shot 51.3 percent, made nine of 25 three-pointers and outrebounded the Wolves 46-29. They had 46 points in the paint, 20 second-chance points and 16 fast-break points. When Beno Udrih hit a three-pointer three minutes into the third quarter, the Spurs had a 31-point lead.

To the Wolves' credit, that margin was shaved to 18 to start the fourth quarter, and they got it down to 11 twice late in the game.