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Michael C. Wright
minneapolis– Victor Wembanyama and this San Antonio Spurs Target Center’s tradition of holding out until Minnesota made its first basket was tested on Sunday by holding the Timberwolves scoreless for nearly five minutes, only to still lose. 104-103,
That’s because Star Guard Anthony Edwards Minnesota overcame a 19-point deficit by hitting a floater with 16.8 seconds left to play. The Timberwolves did not take their first lead until 2:19, when Edwards connected on an 11-foot turnaround fadeaway.
“It didn’t really happen tonight, if I’m being honest,” Edwards said. “As I told them, ‘I don’t care what happens in the first three quarters. Fourth quarter, three minutes, four minutes left, let me get to it. You all can have 50 points. But fourth quarter, four minutes left, the rest of the game, let me get to it.'”
Edwards scored nine of his team-high 23 points on 4-5 shooting in the fourth quarter as Minnesota outscored San Antonio 33-18 in the final frame, getting 11 points on the board off seven Spurs turnovers.
The Timberwolves’ win marked their fifth consecutive win against the Spurs, and the 19-point comeback marked the team’s largest win of the season.
“Just keep fighting,” the Minnesota forward said julius randall“We missed a lot of shots, We know we didn’t really play well, especially offensively, We were moving fast, but we missed a lot of shots, Just keep going, keep fighting, keep fighting and see what happens,”
Vembanyama scored a game-high 29 points with seven rebounds and dominated inside from the start, snatching two goals. Rudy Gobert As San Antonio took a 16–0 lead. Minnesota was unsuccessful on its first eight attempts and Wembanyama played only 3:57 of his first period with 8:03 left in the first quarter.
With 7:22 left in the first quarter, Edwards finally scored the Timberwolves’ first basket, bringing the stunned crowd of 18,978 to their seats.
“The thing that makes them a tough matchup is that when they get down a little bit or when they have a time crunch, they have a habit of turning it on,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “They’re very tough and I thought they definitely got the better of us in the fourth quarter.”
Minnesota did not make a basket in the first half with Wembanyama on the court until 10:38 of the intermission, when donte divincenzo Went in to hit a floater.
“It was definitely our game,” Wembanyama said. “I think sometimes we forget what we should have been doing. We controlled the 3-point line in the first half. There were some stretches, not all the time, but there were some stretches where we gave them too much freedom.”
The Timberwolves began guarding Wembanyama with Gobert and eventually used Edwards to guard the Spurs’ big man with Randle.
Most strategies proved ineffective early on, but Minnesota limited Wembanyama to 13 points in the second half. With 7:24 left, the officials whistled Gobert for a foul on a closeout while guarding Wembanyama, which was ruled a flagrant foul 1 after review. Gobert was also assessed a technical foul in the game and Wembanyama connected on all four foul shots to give San Antonio a 91–81 lead.
Gobert’s flagrant foul was his fifth of the season, meaning he would have to serve a one-game suspension.
“Rudy started with him and it kind of matched up,” said Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nouri, replacing head coach Chris Finch. “You have to knock [Wembanyama] Out of place. Then, when he gets it, you have to rush in and snatch his place. He still made shots. But the defensive effort by Julius and everybody, especially in the second half, a phenomenal job by our guys of basically hanging on to that.”
Vembanyama scored a game-high 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting with six rebounds in the first half, while recording a plus-21 in 12 minutes. The 22-year-old drilled his first basket from 25 feet from the wing, giving San Antonio an 8-0 advantage and scoring 11 of his first-half points in the opening quarter.
“We’ve got to be able to finish games,” Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox said. “We’ve got to be able to put a team away. I think [Wembanyama] It was great for us, getting to the free throw line, finding ways to be efficient. People are trying to get physical with him. He is still extremely effective. I think they did things a little differently. They let people get away with playing with him a little more physically. But it’s for him to navigate and figure out how to attack that.”
