San Antonio Spurs 133, Minnesota Timberwolves 111: Tony Parker and George Hill return in win over Minnesota
AT&T CENTER-George Hill made his triumphant return to the starting lineup. Tony Parker, starting on the bench, followed shortly after in reaffirming that the Spurs backcourt rotation is more than Manu Ginobili and company.
Playing together for the first time since March 6, Parker and Hill managed to sidestep any questions as to who should play instead of who by showcasing how brilliant their games mesh together.
“I love playing with George, I think we make a great duo,” Parker said. “George can get out and run and I’ll get him the ball on fast breaks and for the corner three. I think we create a lot of problems for other teams.â€
In a key second quarter stretch the Spurs used to put away the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Parker-to-Hill connection found it’s way to a fast break layup, a George Hill corner three and a pair of free throws for Hill, who was fouled while shooting a corner jumper by a defender recovering from a Tony Parker drive.
Hill finished the night with six points and three assists, but displayed flashes of his full range of athleticism, blocking Kevin Love and forcing a jump ball.
“I was surprised that (Hill) was ready to go, they were telling me on the road how good he was doing in workouts,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said. “He came back quite quickly, I can’t believe he’s 100 percent but he’s been cleared, he said he feels really good so that’s great.
For most of the night, Tony Parker appeared to have his jets back, blowing by rookie point guard Johnny Flynn with ease, spinning in the lane and weaving his way through transition defense. It’s been a small sample size, but Parker is confidence his plantar fasciitis and injuries are a thing of the past.
And while not the 55-point performance he put up on Minnesota last season, Parker generally wreaked havoc on the Timberwolves’ defense to the tune of 12 points and seven assists on 5-of-8 shooting.
“I thought Tony did a wonderful job of coming off the bench for us,” Popovich said. “He penetrated, he found people, he was wonderful.”
Any excitement over the performance must be tempered with the acknowledgement that the Spurs were playing the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are possibly the worst team in the NBA right now. The Spurs failed to score 30 points in only one quarter (scoring 29 in the third) and had eight players scoring in double figures, led by Keith Bogans season-high 17 points.
The Spurs shot 58 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from the three-point line. Matt Bonner, starting in place of an inactive Antonio McDyess, scored 13 points and Tim Duncan had 16 points and six rebounds on 6-of-7 shooting.
A rested Spurs team (no starter played more than Richard Jefferson’s 23 minutes) will travel to Dallas on Wednesday to face a Dallas Mavericks team that may or may not be playing for the second seed in what could be a first round preview.
With the win, the Spurs clinched yet another 50-win season, their 11th straight. Now playing their best ball of the season, George Hill believes the team is ready to put their past struggles behind them in time for the playoffs.
“For as much as people said we had such a bad season, the race is still close as the difference is just a couple of games,” Hill said. “I think we’re ready to battle anyone in the West.”
