SAN ANTONIO – Nine days after they were supposed to play a game in Mexico City, the Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs finally met for the first time this season.
This time, there was a deafening pregame introduction on the big overhead scoreboard, a major theatrical, lights-down presentation featuring a guy sprinting with a huge, fluttering Spurs flag and cheerleaders in chaps, but there were no pregame pyrotechnics.
That meant thankfully there was no smoke, which meant a game actually was played.
"I just felt bad for the people," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, referring to the Mexico City fans. "You go all that way, you want to play the game. You don't just want to leave. It seems like a waste of time if you don't play. Since there's no way it could be played, you just think about the people, the sponsors and how proud they were of their arena and having that game.
"When we were leaving, you saw all those kiosks where they were selling shirts and you just knew they were embarrassed and disappointed as heck. So that's how we felt, sorry for them more than anything. We'll go play again. The league will pick a date and we'll go play, but it was tough for them."
That Dec. 4 game will be played at the Target Center instead in April, so Wolves coach Rick Adelman will get that 41st home game he always wanted.
"I've never seen something like that happen before," Wolves star Kevin Love said. "I doubt it'll happen like that again. It was just one of those things. Everything happens once. Like I said, I've never seen anything like that before."
Staying late after school
Wolves backup point guard J.J. Barea stayed way late after the team's shootaround Friday morning to work on his shot and conditioning, long enough in fact that the bus that took his teammates back to their hotel returned to AT&T Center to fetch him.
