MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Robert Covington scored 21 points, Karl-Anthony Towns and Derrick Rose each had 16 and the Minnesota Timberwolves shut down the San Antonio Spurs for a 128-89 victory on Wednesday night.
Minnesota (11-11) earned its fourth straight win to get to .500 for the first time since Oct. 31. Taj Gibson scored 13 points, and rookie Josh Okogie made three 3-pointers on his way to 12 points.
Minnesota had dropped 14 of its last 15 against San Antonio, but it held the Spurs to 39.5 percent shooting.
These aren't the Spurs of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, and the much-improved Timberwolves defense isn't the same either.
Minnesota led by as many as 48 before settling for its largest margin of victory against San Antonio in team history. The Timberwolves limited the Spurs to nine second-quarter points in the 15th single-digit defensive quarter in team history.
Jakob Poeltl led the Spurs with 14 points, and Marco Belinelli added 11.
Minnesota improved to 7-2 since trading disgruntled star Jimmy Butler to Philadelphia in exchange for Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round draft pick.
The Wolves broke the game open with a 17-2 run to start the second quarter, mostly with their second unit on the floor. Minnesota led 57-34 at halftime, marking San Antonio's lowest-scoring half this season.
