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The San Antonio Spurs led by as many as 35 points in the third quarter in a 115-106 win over the Timberwolves at the Target Center. San Antonio outscored Minnesota 36-14 in the third quarter to secure their victory. Devin Vassell poured in 23 points for the Spurs, while Keldon Johnson chipped in with 18. The Spurs are on a three-game winning streak. Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points in the losing effort. D'Angelo Russell added 25. The Spurs have now won 3 straight after losing their season opening game.
POSTGAME REACTION:
SAN ANTONIO SPURS HEAD COACH GREGG POPOVICH
On tonight’s performance...
"You gotta be happy for them. They play hard, they enjoy playing with each other. They learn how to play the game. Several guys are getting more and more confident in their game. If they play like that, they’ve shown that they can win basketball games. Their humble yet confident. They come to play. They come to win. Obviously you're not gonna win every one. But they played like their gonna win and that's all you can ask. You go sleep at night when you've got a group that does that."
On where that competitive mindset comes from...
"It's a little bit of everything but you're right in saying that the defense has to be the personality. They have to grunt at the defensive end and board because that obviously helps your offense."
SPURS CENTER JAKOB POELTL
On what stood out most in tonight’s performance…
"Honestly, just us playing hard. We kept up the pace. We got out to a lead and we didn't stop playing, we kept the pressure on until late in the fourth quarter when we let off the gas a little bit and they came back a little bit, but for the most part of that game we just kept going and going and I was really proud of that effort."
On Jeremy Sochan's impact tonight…
"He was great today. He was aggressive on defense on Karl-Anthony Towns. He was aggressive on offense trying to look for his shots, he's looking very comfortable already. If he can keep that up, that aggressiveness, that's great for us."
SPURS FORWARD JEREMY SOCHAN
On his mindset offensively…
"I think it just came, it was a flow. Every night I'm gonna bring energy and try and be aggressive and you know I'm still figuring stuff out, it's a brand new season, brand new league, so it's been good. “
On facing a huge frontcourt…
"Before every game I fell like I get nervous, you know, some butterflies in my tummy, but I think it's just excitement. I wanna go up against the best, so I think it's exciting."