Spurs survive Timberwolves in overtime thriller, 112-113.

The Claw came through in the clutch for San Antonio, dunking it home.

Opening night arrived with a bang as the fierce Minnesota Timberwolves visited The Alamo City, defying an early ten-point deficit and nearly leaving Texas with the victory. Kawhi Leonard's go-ahead dunk in transition late, a scoring surprise off the bench by Iman Shumpert and six three-pointers by Patty Mills eventually outlasted the young and hungry road team.

The Spurs found themselves in more of a fight than they would prefer on a given night, slowly recuperating and tying the game late, the lead fluctuating unpredictably. One crucial dagger from deep by Mills tied the game late. A small lead courtesy of Leonard followed, before Andrew Wiggins put in the alley oop slam to notch the tally at 99. Pau Gasol would miss a baseline jumper at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime. The Spurs went up early in the extra period with its long range proficiency, but this back-and-forth contest could only end with dramatic flair.

The hungry T'Wolves came close to a road win.

Joakim Noah's debut of 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 points went well for the most part, commanding five blocks at key moments throughout the game, but being exposed by the Minnesota defense due to his lack of scoring prowess, forced to pass the ball, disrupting the team's flow. Luckily, Karl Anthony Towns fouled out midway through the final quarter, but not before demanding 22 rebounds, one short of his career high, with 15 points. With a minute left in OT, Kyle O'Quinn got a nice pass from Leonard for a baseline hammer dunk, finishing with 5 points and 1 block. Wiggins would make a turnaround jumper past Leonard to get within a single point, however. Taj Gibson recovered a miss by Jeff Teague to give Minnesota the two-point lead at the time, but it would be Teague's shot at the final buzzer over Dejounte Murray's long defense to misfire as the Spurs held on for the win.

Derrick Rose had a nice night for the Timberwolves, netting 15 points. Jimmy Butler had 22 points, sneaking 2 steals as did Andrew Wiggins with 23 points, making both of his 3PT shots. Gibson had 13 points with 9 rebounds. Jeff Teague had 10 points and 6 assists. Marcus Georges-Hunt had 7 points. For the Spurs, Kawhi Leonard led with 27 points, 5 assists and 4 steals with 1 block on 11-18 shooting, despite 1-6 from deep. Patty Mills had 25 points, Shumpert had 18 points and Pau Gasol's strong double-double helped of 17 points and 15 rebounds with 5 assists. Avery Bradley had 8 points, 1 steal and 1 block.

The Spurs shot 49% to Minnesota's 45%, making ten 3PT shots and winning the paint war 62-50. The Spurs bench dominated this game 47-29, with both teams approaching 30 assists each, totaling 49 rebounds with Minnesota grabbing 43, 21 coming from second chance opportunities. Both teams had partial success at the charity stripe, missing 15 altogether out of 34 makes. They combined for 28 turnovers, both teams defensively swiping 24 steals.