Spurs put home streak on line with Wolves in town

The San Antonio Spurs have been inconsistent this month, but are the complete opposite when playing in the Alamo City. The Spurs target their 12th straight win at home Sunday versus the Minnesota Timberwolves.

San Antonio has alternated wins and losses through the first six games of the New Year and suffered a 101-98 overtime loss to the Southwest Division-rival Memphis Grizzlies on Friday at FedEx Forum. Rudy Gay gave Memphis the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 27.8 seconds remaining in overtime, while Tony Parker led all scorers with 30 points.

Parker tied the game with a 3-pointer at the buzzer in regulation.

Tim Duncan had 13 points and 15 rebounds for the Spurs, who have lost three in a row on the road and committed 18 turnovers for 26 Memphis points.

"We started out pretty well and got ourselves a lead, but they just kept coming," Duncan said. "They just made more plays than we did. They just outplayed us."

The Spurs, Clippers and Thunder lead the NBA with 28 wins.

San Antonio's 11-game home winning streak is the longest since a franchise- best 22-game run in the 2010-11 season. The Spurs are 15-2 as the host and will begin a three-game homestand tonight versus Minnesota, Memphis and Golden State. The .882 home winning percentage ranks first in the NBA.

Minnesota will continue its four-game road trip Sunday and has lost the first two tests of the trek to Oklahoma City and New Orleans.

In a 104-92 loss to the Hornets on Friday, Luke Ridnour scored a game-high 20 points and Nikola Pekovic added 18 with six rebounds for Minnesota, which has lost four of six games overall and is dealing with the absence of star forward Kevin Love (surgery on broken hand).

"We stopped executing our offense (in the second half). We started playing a more individual game," said Timberwolves forward Andrei Kirilenko, who finished with 17 points.

The Timberwolves were outscored, 30-15, in the third quarter and fell to 6-12 away from the Twin Cities. Wolves guard J.J. Barea missed his second straight game with a sore back and is questionable against the Spurs. He is averaging 10.7 points and 4.4 assists this season.

Minnesota, which has been without coach Rick Adelman, will wrap up the road swing Monday at Dallas. Adelman has been home with his wife, who was recently hospitalized. Assistant Terry Porter has served as acting coach during Adelman's absence.

The Wolves and Spurs are meeting for the first time this season, and Minnesota took two of three matchups a season ago. San Antonio, though, has won 17 of the past 19 encounters in this series and 15 in a row as the host.

The last time Minnesota won in the Alamo City was on Jan. 14, 2004 in a 100-93 triumph.