Timberwolves at Spurs
THE STORY: Kevin Love is doing his best to keep the Minnesota Timberwolves in the playoff race without Ricky Rubio. The Timberwolves snapped a three-game slide behind a big game from Love on Monday to pull back within a game of .500. The San Antonio Spurs are much safer in terms of their playoff future but have had some problems with Minnesota, losing two meetings in Minneapolis in January.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSNO (Minnesota), FSSW (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (23-24): Minnesota was two games over .500 and had just moved into the No. 8 spot in the West when Rubio went down with a torn ACL in a loss on Mar. 9. Including that contest, the Timberwolves have dropped five of their last seven games to fall two games out. Love carried Minnesota to a victory on Monday, collecting 36 points and 17 rebounds in a 97-93 triumph at Golden State. Minnesota is 2-3 on its current seven-game road trip, with the top two teams in the West - San Antonio and the Oklahoma City Thunder - still to come.
ABOUT THE SPURS (29-14): San Antonio is just 12-10 on the road and was bitten in each of its trips to Minnesota, falling 106-96 on Jan. 2, and 87-79 on Jan. 27. Tony Parker was limited to 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting in the first meeting and Manu Ginobili suffered an injury to his shooting hand in the second quarter. That injury kept him out of the second matchup. Ginobili is healthy now and has some support at the swingman spot with newly reacquired Stephen Jackson, who made his debut in a loss at Dallas on Saturday.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Love has eight games of at least 30 points and 15 rebounds this season. The rest of the NBA has combined for six such performances.
2. San Antonio had taken 16 straight in the series before dropping the last two.
3. Parker had put up 28.8 points in the five games prior to a 13-point effort on Saturday.