San Antonio @ Minnesota preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 18, 2019 ) San Antonio 116, Minnesota 113

The Minnesota Timberwolves are building trust in each other and in the system by executing down the stretch in close games and are starting to pull out wins. The Timberwolves will try to earn their third victory in four games when they host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.

Minnesota pulled off a 120-114 win over the Detroit Pistons on Monday, coming through down the stretch after nearly letting a 19-point lead slip away. "Continuity, cohesiveness, unity," star center Karl-Anthony Towns told reporters. "I've said it before many times, I'll say it again, I think those things, when you have that kind of cohesiveness and unity, it builds great camaraderie in the games, even when it's really close." The Spurs are missing that kind of camaraderie of late and kick off a stretch of six of seven on the road Wednesday after dropping back-to-back games at home. San Antonio allowed the Boston Celtics to shoot 51.1 percent from the floor in a 135-115 setback on Saturday before letting the Memphis Grizzlies go off at 50.6 percent in Monday's 113-109 loss.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (San Antonio)

ABOUT THE SPURS (5-5): San Antonio retired the number of future Hall of Famer Tony Parker on Monday, but it wasn't enough to spark the team as it came out flat once again and was outscored 35-22 in the first quarter. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called a timeout and replaced his entire starting lineup five minutes into Saturday's loss to Boston but was not quite as quick to give up on his front line Monday despite another slow start. San Antonio did not have a player reach 20 points against the Grizzlies as LaMarcus Aldridge led the way with 19.

ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (6-4): Minnesota is getting a big lift from forward Andrew Wiggins, who scored 33 points on Monday and is averaging 30.6 points over the last five contests. Wiggins is thriving in coach Ryan Saunders' system, which encourages a quicker pace and plenty of 3-point attempts. "We kept believing," Wiggins told reporters. "Even in preseason - we had a tough time with it. I feel like now it's getting better and every game we're just learning more, getting more used to it and getting better."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Timberwolves PG Jeff Teague (illness), PG Shabazz Napier (hamstring) and PF Jordan Bell (shoulder) are all day-to-day.

2. Spurs F Rudy Gay scored 18 points on Monday after being held to single digits in the previous three contests.

3. San Antonio took four of the last five in the series.

PREDICTION: Spurs 113, Timberwolves 109