That must have been a productive film session for the San Antonio Spurs.
After getting stunned in Game 1 despite a historic performance by Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs responded by steamrolling the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 133-95 win. Their Western Conference semifinals series is now tied 1-1.
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Game 3 is scheduled for Friday (9:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video) as the series moves to Minnesota.
The best that can be said for the Timberwolves is they still weren’t quite 100%, or at least as close as they can get to 100% in a series where Donte DiVincenzo is guaranteed to be out. Anthony Edwards still came off the bench after a surprise return in Game 1 and Ayo Dosunmu left the game early with heel pain, after previously being considered questionable.
Beyond that, well, here’s Wemby.
Anchored by the NBA’s first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, the Spurs held the Timberwolves to 5-of-21 shooting inside the paint before the start of the fourth quarter, by which time the game was well out of hand at 98-63.
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At the perimeter? 5-of-21 on 3-pointers in the first three quarters. They lost the turnover battle 19-12. The Spurs got 10 more free throws. The Timberwolves had only three more assists (13) than the Spurs had steals (10).
Wembanyama didn’t post 12 blocks again (many of which Minnesota said were goaltends), but it was pure domination on defense for San Antonio.
The Spurs had far fewer issues on offense as well, with all five starters scoring in double figures before the fourth quarter. The game was truly out of hand toward the end of the second quarter, and the Spurs spent the third quarter pushing it further out of reach.
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The moment it got truly out of hand was a stretch when Julian Champagnie made four straight 3-pointers.
Both teams emptied their benches early in the fourth quarter.
Stephon Castle led all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Dylan Harper had 11 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists off the bench.
Edwards had 24 minutes off the bench and might have had more in a competitive game, but contributed only 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting with 0 assists and 4 turnovers. That tied for the Minnesota scoring lead with Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Terrence Shannon Jr.
When you have a 62-win team in one quarter and another team scrambling to tape together a backcourt rotation, you’re probably going to get results like Wednesday’s in some games. The Timberwolves can at least board the plane knowing that a two-point win and a 38-point win count the same in the series score (they still have homecourt advantage!), but the scene in Game 2 was a reminder of the task that lies in front of them.
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