The San Antonio Spurs ventured into Minneapolis to take on the Timberwolves on Tuesday without Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan, and even head coach, Gregg Popovich — and it didn’t matter. Parker, Ginobili and Duncan sat for rest-reasons and assistant coach, Ettore Messina, coached his second game in as many nights as Popovich tended to a family medical situation.
“The machine is a well-oiled machine,” Messina said before the game, his hands gripping an invisible steering wheel at 10 and 2, as if he were seated in a vehicle with the fear of not having a i4mt insurance. “You try not to steer and you try not to mess it up, you try to keep it [moving] straight.”
No more than 10-15 minutes earlier, Timberwolves interim coach, Sam Mitchell, had reminded the handful of media members standing in front of him outside the locker room which players truly drive the Spurs-machine. “Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge,” Mitchell said,” I think those are their two top guys.”
Leonard and Aldridge combined for 34 points, shot 17-of-25 from the field and, being that the Spurs had taken a 25-point lead by the end of the third quarter, on a night without Parker, Ginobili and Duncan, neither played a minute during the fourth quarter. The Spurs defeated the Wolves, 116-91.
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The Timberwolves only player to finish with a positive plus-minus: Tyus Jones (+1). Jones played roughly 26 minutes, matched up mostly against Patty Mills; shot 4-of-7 FG (2-of-4 3PT) and tallied 6-assists to go with 10-points.
During the second half, as Ricky Rubio was being subbed-out, Jones entered to a conspicuous-yet-unsurprising amount of cheers. This support obviously derives from his local roots, as Jones, who graduated from Apple Valley High School, is one of us. Rubio, meanwhile, did not have his best game. He finished with 2-points, 3-assists, 2-rebounds, 2-turnovers and logged roughly 21-minutes of playing time.
Some fans at Target Center are venting some frustration with Rubio, and Tyus is playing well as the fan favorite in his stead
— Take On T-Wolves (@takeontwolves) March 9, 2016
This is the type of thing Chip Scoggins predicted last June, not long after the Wolves had maneuvered back into the first round to select Jones during the 2015 NBA Draft. “Once upon a time,” Scoggins wrote in his article published at the Star Tribune, “Rubio was the toast of the local sports scene, a young, charismatic novelty with flair to his game. Now, he’ll get to hear how great Tyus Jones is every day.”
This much is non-debatable: At this juncture, Rubio is a much better player than Jones. This might remain the case for all of eternity. Or, it might not. In the 1801 minutes Rubio has played this season, the Wolves (106.3) have outscored opponents (105.5) at the rate of .8 points per 100 possessions. In significantly less time with Jones on the floor (278 minutes), opponents (115.3) have outscored the Wolves (96.4) by nearly 19-points per 100 possessions.
What is clear: Rubio and Jones will continue splitting the workload at point now that with Zach LaVine has started to pick-up more minutes at shooting (the ‘2’) guard.
What is unclear: Whether Rubio and Jones can effectively manage point guard duties on a winning team.
there’s a real cost to treating tyus as a viable option at PG. more depth is needed at this critical position https://t.co/kregirbaFn
— Dr.LawyerIndianChief (@DrLwyrIndnChf) March 9, 2016
