The San Antonio Spurs were trying to correct their road woes Friday in Minnesota, but the woes continued as the Spurs went cold in the fourth quarter to lose to the Timberwolves 87-79, after the Wolves ended the game on a 10-0 run.

The Spurs and Wolves battled through four straight quarters, and then with 3:33 remaining, and the Spurs trailing, Gary Neal made a big three to give the Spurs the lead. The Spurs would go on to miss seven straight shots and shoot 5-of-15 in the fourth quarter as Kevin Love’s 18 points and 16 rebounds, along with Ricky Rubio’s 18 points and 10 assists finished off the Spurs.

Early on it looked like the Spurs were in control as Richard Jefferson kicked the Spurs off with a 10-2 run to start the game. Jefferson had 10 of the Spurs’ 22 first quarter points as the Spurs lead the Wolves 22-21 after one. Keep in mind, Jefferson never scored again through the rest of the game.

Tiago Splitter and Matt Bonner came off the bench to put some nice minutes in the second quarter as they combined for 14 points. The Wolves were able to take the lead from the Spurs with four minutes remaining in the second quarter, but the Spurs went into halftime with a slim 42-41 lead.

Former Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin is getting some attention from several NBA teams, including the San Antonio Spurs, now that his former Chinese team, Xinjiang, is out of the playoffs.

Martin left the team in December, but the Chinese Basketball Association prohibits players from signing with an NBA team until the season is over, which according to ABCLocal.com, makes Martin a free agent on February 16.

The Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers,Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks are pursuing free-agent forward Kenyon Martin, according to league sources.Martin has spoken with executives from each of the clubs and is hoping to make his decision next week.

Martin's priority is to join a contender on which he'll have a sizeable role, according to a person close to Martin. The Clippers and the Knicks can offer the $2.5 million mini-midlevel exception. San Antonio can as well, but it is unlikely to do so because of the luxury tax, sources said.

Martin had a slip in production for the Nuggets last season, averaging 8.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and almost one block per game. Regardless of that drop, Martin is still widely considered a very good interior defender, can defend four positions and has been thrown on everyone from Dirk Nowitzki to Kevin Durant. While he may not be quite the defender he was in New Jersey, he's also still a very good team defender and very tough in the post, something the Spurs could use.

The Spurs could certainly use some added depth up front and a Duncan-Martin starting frontcourt combo would probably work well with Blair joining Tiago Splitter off the bench. Martin would also be re-united with Richard Jefferson, and while I wouldn't expect to see them provide the same excitement and athleticism they did in New Jersey, perhaps Jefferson could help in getting Martin to buy into the Spurs system.

It's probably still a bit early to be thinking of Martin in silver and black, though. The Spurs have some stiff competition for his services, and the Knicks seem like the logical front runners to me, but be sure to check back on Project Spurs as February 16 looms ahead. 

The San Antonio Spurs (12-7) will face the Minnesota Timberwolves (8-10) tonight at the Target Center as the Spurs hope the road will be kind to them yet again.

In their first meeting this season, Minnesota snapped its 16-game losing streak against San Antonio with a 106-96 win. In that game, Kevin Love totaled 24 points, and 15 rebounds while Michael Beasley chipped in 19 points. Richard Jefferson and Tim Duncan paced the Spurs with 16 points apiece. However, it was also the game Manu Ginobili fractured his hand.

But as San Antonio enters tonight's contest, here are five things to keep an eye on tonight.

• Let's get a high-scoring affair going Spurs! Minnesota is 0-5 when allowing 100 points or more.
• Spurs should make sure to be leading at the end of the third quarter. The Timberwolves are 6-2 when leading or tied after three quarters.
• Minnesota cranks up the "D" in the fourth quarter. Minnesota ranks 4th in the NBA in 4th-quarter field goal percentage defense at 40.7%.
• Be careful when Rubio is around the ball on defense. Ricky Rubio swiped a season-high six steals in a win over the Detroit Pistons this season.
• Do not let the Timberwolves get hot from the three-point land Spurs! The Wolves are 4-1 this season when hitting 10 or more three-pointers and 4-2 when attempting at least 23 shots from behind the arch. Oh and another note -- they are also 10th in the N.B.A. in three-point percentage defense at 32.7%.

Briefing Session
The San Antonio Spurs (12-7) return to the road after defeating the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday witha display of productive bench depth and a focus back to defense. The team will play the Minnesota Timberwolves (8-10) tonight in Minnesota as the Spurs return to the location where they lost their best player,Manu Ginobili, for 6-8 weeks on January 2.

That evening, the Timberwolves were led by Kevin Love's 24 points and 19 rebounds, and the Timberwolves shot 58% from the field, and 57% from beyond the arc as they defeated the Spurs 106-96.

Minnesota is 5-5 in their last 10 games.

Commendable areas for the Timberwolves

Rebounding: The Timberwolves rebound the ball very well led by Kevin Love's 14 rebounds per game. The Wolves are ranked 10th in rebounding with 43 rebounds per game.

Making threes: The Timberwolves shoot a bunch of threes, and they are among the top three-point makers in the league. The Wolves make an average of 7.4 three pointers per game which is ranked 4th in the NBA.

Getting to the line: Minnesota is ranked 4th in the NBA at getting to the free throw line with 26.8 free throw attempts per game. They also make free throws at a high rate of 20.1 made free throws per game, which is ranked 5th in the league.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers (unwillingly) said goodbye to LeBron James, they also said goodbye to the spotlight. Everyone knew they weren’t going to be nearly as good without their superstar, and probably were only going to be worth watching if you wanted to see how important James was to the franchise.

Now they have two top-4 draft picks in Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson. They haven’t made it back to where they were with LeBron yet, they’re not even close, but they have some solid building blocks to work with and it seems like they’re almost a little bit happier with a “team” than with a superstar and four guys surrounding him. One of the members of the Cavs front office uses the Spurs as an example.

“[The Cavs] plan to fill the roster with more within the next year or two, and in the words of one front-office official, ‘build things the right way.’ That way, the official noted, you have ‘a culture in place like in San Antonio or Oklahoma City,’ where the team doesn’t need a superstar considered worthy of hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ to be successful.”

I’m glad some of the Cavs organization seems to be moving on from the “LeBron era,” because others sure haven’t. I feel weird even bringing this up because it’s so crazy to think this is going to happen, but there have been some “reports” that LeBron isn’t happy in Miami and will go back to Cleveland. Some people are still clearly in denial about LeBron leaving and want to go back to the “glory days.”

The city of Clevelandand the Cavaliers organization will be much better off if they move past LeBron and focus on this new “San Antonio” line of thinking: Forget the superstar, focus on the team.

The San Antonio Spurs (12-7) will face the Minnesota Timberwolves (8-10) tonight at the Target Center as the Spurs hope to pick up their second road win in a row.

However, this isn't your Timberwolves team from the past. This Minnesota team has talent, youth, and are a scrappy bunch.

In their first meeting this season, Minnesota snapped its 16-game losing streak against San Antonio with a 106-96 win. In that game, Kevin Love totaled 24 points, and 15 rebounds. Also in that game, Manu Ginobili fractured his hand.

To discuss tonight's contest, I turned to Mike Reynolds of Bloguin's own TWolves Blog. In this Q&A, Mike talks about the Love contract extension fiasco, dazzling rookie Ricky Rubio, the key matchup for tonight and much more.

Jeff: Got to ask about the whole Kevin Love, extension fiasco. Is David Kahn really that foolish to not lock up Love for as long as he can?

Mike: It is a "Kahn-fusing" move. Whenever you have a player of Love's caliber on your team, it makes far and away the most sense to lock him up for as long as possible. We have seen this pattern of mismanagement in the NBA several times over the past 3+ seasons, and it usually doesn't end well. However, this seems like more of an ownership directive. Glen Taylor has been a very frugal owner ever since Garnett was traded. It seems somewhat possible that the Wolves could become another Cleveland or Orlando, with a terrible GM who won't be able to surround Love with the talent he needs to succeed, resulting in him bolting for greener (or, according to 4-letter, purple and gold) pastures in three years. This is, of course, my slowly waning Twolves-fan cynicism shining through. With the addition of Adelman and star-in-the-making with Rubio, Wolves seem poised to make a leap here and are perhaps just one major move away. But, then again, so is 3/4 of the NBA. The net, net is, regardless of the years involved, Love signing an extension was a great thing for the franchise.

So what's going to happen with Mike Beasley and his future in Minnesota? no comments

A key to the San Antonio Spurs’ 105-83 win over the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday can be credited to head coach Gregg Popovich’s decision to bench three of his starters one minute into the third quarter for lack of aggression. From there, the remaining starters Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard, with subs Matt Bonner, Cory Joseph, and Danny Green went on a 15-6 point spurt to give the Spurs an 11-point lead with six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Tony Parker was finally reinserted into the quarter and Richard Jefferson and DeJuan Blair would follow suit to finish the quarter. By the time the third quarter ended, the Spurs held a 15-point lead and would close out the Hawks’ by 22-points at the end of the game.

The Hawks only scored 17 points in the third quarter and Marvin Williams was the only bright sight for Atlanta in the quarter, as he scored all of his eight points in the third.

Here’s an interesting Project Spurs' exclusive conversation I got with Williams after the game.

Williams, however, isn’t the person who makes the interview distinct. Instead, Jannero Pargo joined in the interview to give his take on Popovich’s third quarter decision.

Paul (interviewing Marvin Williams): How did the game get away from you guys? Was it that second half when coach Pop took out three of the starters and put the young guys in?

Williams: Yeah, those young guys really gave them a boost. They came in and made some plays, we had some blown coverage’s on the defensive end.

Jannero Pargo (inserts his own response while Williams is still speaking): That was a good coaching move.

Williams (continued): They took advantage of it. They did what they had to do man. no comments

San Antonio Spurs' Manu Ginobili has been officially named to the 2012 Argentinian Olympic squad. Manu and Argentina won the FIBA Americas tournament this past summer capturing gold earning a birth at the London games this summer.

Manu will be joined by fellow NBA players and countrymen Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, and Carlos Delfino. Also making the team are Hernan Jasen, Pablo Prigioni, Leonardo Gutierrez and Juan Pedro Gutierrez.

Notably left off the preliminary list is former Spurs center Fabricio Oberto who is currently playing in Argentina to prepare for the London games but will more than likely be added to the roster at a later date.

Manu is still making his way back to the court after fracturing his hand earlier this season, but some Spurs fans may be a tad leery with him playing this summer.

Recall he played with Argentina this past summer, took time off after the FIBA Americas tournament and during the lockout, then fractured his hand, and once he comes back to the Spurs, he will be playing at a frenetic pace right when the stretch-run to the playoffs is in full effect during this shortened season.

Depending on how deep the Spurs go into the playoffs (keep in mind the playoffs were pushed back due to the lockout), he will then have to train with Argentina once the Spurs' season is over, and again play this summer for Argentina in London, only to turn right back around and prepare for the 2012-2013 N.B.A. season.

Seems Manu's health will be on the minds of not only Spurs fans but the coaching staff as well.

Remember a while back when LeBron James got dunked on by Jamal Crawford (then with Xavier now with the Washington Wizards) and had the video of the dunk confiscated?

Well I doubt he will pull that stunt again for his Miami Heat teammate Udonis Haslem when former San Antonio Spurs and Austin Toros player Alonzo Gee took one right to the rim and smashed one down.

Check out Gee posterizing Haslem with James getting some collateral damage in the form of Gee's foot being waved in his face.

A bit of confusing news in the fallout of yesterday's flurry of extensions and non-extensions. According to Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News, the San Antonio Spurs declined to pick up the third year option on James Anderson's contract.

Harvey writes the Spurs decided not to pick up Anderson's contract because of the emergence of Danny Green. He added that the Spurs spent all Wednesday (and many days before that) trying to decide if they should pick up the option. They feared that if they didn't pick up his option, he'd become the next Ian Mahimni, who has turned in to a decent big man for the Mavs. But Green's emergence and Gary Neal coming back from injury has buried Anderson on the bench, which Harvey noted has buried his trade value.

And that's the big problem with this move. You can't trade Anderson for anything more than probably a 2nd round pick because people haven't seen him play. Let's assume Anderson does get off the bench before Manu comes back and plays well. By not picking up his option for next season, the Spurs have hurt his trade value you that way because the most that the team that owns Anderson's rights, be it the Spurs or someone else, is $1.5 million. Any other team can offer him more if they choose, though that seems likely at this point. no comments