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The Spurs finished up the first half of the season at 28-13 with an easy 119-101 win over the Bucks on Thursday night. Last season, the Spurs were at 19-22 at the halfway point of the season, so that’s a huge improvement so far. The Spurs played well
for most of the game against the Bucks, but the Timberwolves will provide a tougher test for the Silver and Black, having won their two previous games against the Spurs, the latest being a comeback 104-103 win last week in Minneapolis, where the home team overcame a 19 point deficit by shutting down the Spurs offense in the fourth quarter with physical play, most notably by Julius Randle using his strength to push around Victor Wembanyama and keep him off balance.
The Spurs will have to come up with a strategy to handle that scheme, because you can’t count on fouls being called. That could involve moving the ball more on offense and some hard screens on Randle, matching physicality with physicality. Wemby played Gobert off the court in the last game, and the Spurs need to make them put him back into the game so he can miss some free throws. This is the third and final meeting of these two teams in the regular season, so the Spurs will want to get a home win to avoid being 0-3, and more importantly, a lead would help to keep ahead of them in the Western Conference standings.
The injury report has Stephon Castle listed as questionable with an undisclosed illness, hopefully he will be able to play to slow down Anthony Edwards, who is available tonight after missing a few games with a foot problem. Devin Vassell is still out, and he has been missed, but hopefully he will be able to return to the lineup sometime soon. The Spurs will play the Jazz on Monday at 4:00 PM in a MLK Day game, but that’s probably too soon.
Let’s all watch the Spurs start off the second half of the season on a positive note, and GO SPURS GO!!
Game Prediction:
Jeremy Sochan takes Julius Randle’s lunch money, and Randle gets a tech from the ref for complaining about it.
San Antonio Spurs vs Minnesota Timberwolves
January 17, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
Streaming: NBA League Pass
TV: FanDuel Sports Southwest
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