The AP reports:
Referee Ken Mauer certainly won’t be accused of being biased toward his hometown Minnesota Timberwolves anytime soon.
Mauer, a cousin of Twins superstar Joe Mauer and a St. Paul native, whistled the Wolves for five technical fouls in a dizzying 10 seconds of the third quarter, allowing the calm and collected San Antonio Spurs to take control of another head-scratchingly tight game between the best team in the NBA and one of the worst.
Manu Ginobili had 19 points, making all five of those technical free throws, and the Spurs beat the Timberwolves 107-96 on Tuesday night.
“I’ve never seen that before,” said Wolves forward Kevin Love, who picked up the final technical of the spree. “Five in a row, that had to be a first. That was crazy.”
Richard Jefferson scored 17 and Tony Parker had 12 points and 13 assists for the Spurs, who beat the Timberwolves for the 16th straight time. Ginobili also had nine rebounds and six assists.
Love had 20 points and 20 rebounds for the Timberwolves, his sixth 20-20 game of the season. Orlando’s Dwight Howard led the league with three 20-20 games all of last season.
