There is just one national TV game on this Saturday in the NBA, and it features the Minnesota Timberwolves traveling to San Antonio to take on the Spurs. The Wolves enter the contest at 40-29. Having won two games in a row, they are up to fifth place in the Western Conference. As for the Spurs, they currently occupy eighth place in the West at 39-30, and have also won their last two games.

How to watch Timberwolves at Spurs

  • Date: Saturday, March 17
  • Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
  • Location: AT&T Center -- San Antonio, Texas
  • TV: NBA TV
  • Streaming: FuboTV
  • Follow: GameTracker  

SportsLine odds

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Analysis

Talk about matchups with playoff implications. Pretty much every game that's played by a team in the Western Conference these days will have some affect on the playoff race, but few games will be as crucial as Saturday night's Timberwolves-Spurs showdown. 

The Wolves currently sit in fifth place in the West, but they're just one game ahead of the Spurs, who enter the contest in eighth. And neither team is safe from dropping out of the playoffs altogether, with the Wolves just 2 1/2 games ahead of the 10th-place Clippers, and the Spurs just 1 1/2 games ahead of Doc Rivers' bunch. In addition, this game will settle the tiebreaker between the Wolves and Spurs, which could have huge implications for not only seeding, but potentially which one of them ends up making the playoffs if they finish eighth and ninth.

As for the game itself, the Spurs will still be without Kawhi Leonard. Though there were reports he was planning to return on Thursday night, he is still not ready. Likewise, the Wolves will still not have Jimmy Butler, who is still rehabbing from his knee injury. It will be an interesting contrast of styles in this one, as the Spurs possess the third-best defense in the league, while the Timberwolves boast the fourth-best offense.