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 on Wednesday.
The Spurs won their 12th game in a row, 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,” he said.
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 overtime.
Matt Bonner sank a 3-pointer with 49 seconds remaining in overtime 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.
The Spurs have not lost since falling to New Orleans in their second game of the season.
San Antonio’s Richard Jefferson scored 19 points and 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 Serbian Darko Milicic.
MAVS 111, THUNDER 103
In Oklahoma City, Dirk Nowitzki scored 34 points as the Dallas Mavericks charged past the Oklahoma City Thunder in the fourth quarter for a 111-103 victory in the NBA on Wednesday.
German star Nowitzki and Jason Terry teamed to score 10 straight points in a 57-second span to put Dallas up for good midway through the final period, and the Mavericks sealed it with a 12-0 run.
Dallas’ Tyson Chandler had season highs with 17 points and 18 rebounds.
Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 32 points but was held in check in the fourth.
In other NBA play, it was:
‧ Magic 104, Heat 95
‧ Celtics 89, Nets 83
‧ Knicks 99, Bobcats 95
‧ Cavaliers 83, Bucks 81
‧ Grizzlies 105, Pistons 84
‧ Raptors 106, 76ers 90
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB