Victor Wembanyama scored 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead hosts San Antonio Spurs past the Minnesota Timberwolves 126-97 and take a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series.
Wembanyama returned to action on Tuesday after being ejected in the second quarter of an eventual 114-109 loss to the host Timberwolves in Game 4 on Sunday, when he elbowed the face of an opponent, resulting in an automatic ejection.
“Very, very much,” Wembanyama said when asked how anxious he was to return to the court for Game 5. “I mean, I was fresh, feeling good. But honestly, it’s hard to tell if it’s just, it’s just, it was just getting fired up. Obviously, I’m going to be excited with butterflies, you know. So excitement is not something abnormal.”
The Spurs led by as many as 18 points in the second quarter before going cold and settling for a 12-point advantage at halftime. After Minnesota rallied to tie the game at 61-all four minutes into the third quarter, San Antonio ran off 30 of the final 42 points of the period to carry a 91-73 lead into the final 12 minutes.
“We went away from what was working, and then, you know, defence just cratered,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “In the last six minutes of the third quarter, lot of it was just ball contain stuff. And, you know, offensively found stuff that was working, then we just started breaking off plays, you know. And that’s my job. I gotta get us back on track. That’s on me.”
The Spurs stoked the margin to 20 early in the fourth. Minnesota answered with an 8-0 surge to pull within 93-81 with 9:34 remaining but never got closer than 11 points for the rest of the game.
Keldon Johnson added 21 points off the bench for San Antonio, with De’Aaron Fox scoring 18, Stephon Castle hitting for 17 and Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper tallying 12 points each. Harper also grabbed 10 rebounds.
“We played with the appropriate fear, discipline, execution, physicality, poise,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And I thought we had it from an array of people tonight, and it was really good to see. We needed everybody, because at different moments of the game, different guys stepped up.”
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 20 points. Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle had 17 points apiece, Ayo Dosunmu racked up 16 and Naz Reid finished with 12.
Wembanyama was on fire in the game’s early moments, scoring 16 of the Spurs’ first 24 points as San Antonio built a 24-9 lead at the 6:17 mark of the first period. The Timberwolves weathered the storm, with Reid’s driving layup with 23 seconds remaining trimming the deficit to 34-30 after 12 minutes of play.
“We knew it was going to be physical, so just making that a point of emphasis and trying to keep them off the offensive glass,” Castle said. “I thought we started the game off well, and that’s where our runs came from. But obviously, they’re a good team, you know, they’re going to go on their own run.”
The Spurs ripped off the first nine points of the second quarter, capped by a three-point play by Castle, to stoke their advantage to 43-30.
San Antonio built their margin to 58-40 after a Wembanyama alley-oop dunk with 3:24 left in the period but then missed its final eight shots of the quarter, allowing Minnesota to pull to within 59-47 at the break.
Wembanyama had a double-double in the first half alone, scoring 21 points and collecting 11 boards. Fox contributed 12 points for San Antonio before halftime.
“I think one thing, the one word I’d like to use, just ‘mature,'” Mitch Johnson said of Wembanyama. “There’s a lot that’s happened in the last 48 hours, in the last game, and I think how that young man came out tonight and played in a variety of ways, in a variety of situations, not just in terms of his production, was extremely mature and then defensively, start to finish.”
Dosunmu’s nine points paced the Timberwolves’ offence in the first half while Reid and Edwards added eight points each.
Minnesota continued its charge at the start of the third quarter, tying the game at 61-61 at the 7:51 mark when Dosunmu’s layup culminated a 14-2 run.
“I don’t see nobody in our locker room that [is] worried at the end of the day,” Edwards said. “Man, it’s another basketball game. So you come out, put your boots on and get ready to go to work.”
Game 6 in the best-of-seven series is Friday in Minneapolis, while Game 7 – if necessary – would be back in the Alamo City on Sunday.