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
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The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
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