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Spurs win third straight, beat Minnesota

Jan 12, 2011 - 4:26 AM Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Manu Ginobili scored 19 points, Richard Jefferson had 17 and the San Antonio Spurs beat Minnesota, 107-96, for their 16th straight win over the Timberwolves.

Tim Duncan added 16 points as the Spurs continued to rebound from consecutive losses in New York and Boston, winning for the third straight time since then.

San Antonio improved to an NBA-best 32-6.

The Timberwolves got 20 points and 20 rebounds from Kevin Love -- his 25th straight double-double -- but dropped both ends of a home-and-home to fall to 5-26 in the last 31 meetings between the teams.

Minnesota never held a lead in this one, falling behind early and never catching up despite a rally in the third quarter that was derailed by a slew of technical fouls.

Ginobili scored 10 points and the Spurs shot 68 percent in the first quarter to carry a 36-25 lead into the second.

They went ahead by as many as 16 before halftime when George Hill buried a three-pointer to make it 58-42 with 3:23 left. The Timberwolves scored 11 of the next 16 points to pull within 63-53 heading into the locker room.

Martell Webster scored 16 of his 18 points in the half -- including 14 in the second quarter -- but Minnesota shot 40 percent as a team while the Spurs hit on 56 percent of their shots for the 10-point lead.

The Timberwolves cut it to six points on a Love three-pointer at 9:27 of the third quarter. But Corey Brewer and Darko Milicic were both called for technical fouls, head coach Kurt Rambis was whistled for back-to-back technicals and Love also drew one to bring the potential comeback to a halt.

Ginobili made five free throws for an 11-point Spurs lead.

"We got it to six points. We started to get back into it, but it's tough to do" in that situation, said Love.

San Antonio carried a 12-point lead into the fourth at 88-76 and never let it get closer than seven the rest of the way.

Despite his team's success against the Timberwolves, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said he was tired of playing them.

"They've been harder for us to play than anyone so far," he said of the 9-30 Timberwolves. "It's going to turn for them."

Game Notes

San Antonio shot 47 percent for the game and made half of its 22 three-point attempts...Minnesota shot 38 percent from the field and scored 25 points on 17 Spurs turnovers.