Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs can reach their expected showdown with the Oklahoma City Thunder with a road win Friday night over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.
When last seen in Minneapolis last Sunday in Game 4, Wembanyama was only a part-time participant, ejected in the fourth minute of the second quarter, a game the Timberwolves went on to win 114-109 to even the best-of-seven at 2-2.
The unanimous NBA Defensive Player of the Year was not suspended for the flagrant foul in which he threw an elbow into the face of Minnesota’s Naz Reid. He returned to contribute 27 points and 17 rebounds to a 126-97 home win on Tuesday that put the Spurs one win from their first trip to the Western finals since 2017.
Defense has been the key to the Spurs’ success in the series. Led by Wembanyama’s presence in the middle, San Antonio has harassed the Timberwolves into just 41.4% shooting overall and 33.3% on 3-pointers while blocking 8.2 shots per game.
With six players averaging at least one steal, the Spurs have also swiped the ball an average of 9.6 times a game.
The San Antonio defense has been especially harsh on Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle, who have shot just 40.5% and 36.6%, respectively, after Randle led Minnesota in scoring with 115 points, shooting 43.0%, and McDaniels hit almost half his shots (49.4%) when the Timberwolves upset the Denver Nuggets in Round 1.
Meanwhile, the Spurs have scorched the nets at a 48.3% clip against the Minnesota defense, which has averaged just 5.8 blocks and 3.8 steals.
Dylan Harper (14.6 points per game, 54.0% shooting) and Stephon Castle (17.6 points per game, 50.9% shooting) have provided Wembanayama the type of support that Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards has yet to receive.
If the Timberwolves have been surprised by the performance of Harper, who had a scoreless game at Minnesota during the regular season, it’s nothing new to his Spurs teammates.
“If he played for any other team in the league, he’d be starting and probably be winning the Rookie of the Year,” rookie Carter Bryant noted to reporters. “To see how he’s sacrificed and bought into his role, it’s amazing.”
After having been a driving force in their triumph over Denver in the first round, the Timberwolves had hoped for more from McDaniels against the Spurs. But the defensive ace basically has been in foul trouble since the opening tip of Game 1 – he’s been whistled for five fouls three times and four fouls twice – and Edwards would like to see that change.
“Everything starts with Jaden McDaniels, trying to keep him out of foul trouble,” Edwards expressed to the media about his teammate who had 32 points in the clincher against the Nuggets, but no more than 17 in any game so far in this series.
“He’s so important to the team, he’s so important to us,” Edwards continued. “It hurts everybody when he gets in foul trouble. We try to avoid getting him in foul trouble; if we can do that, we give ourselves a great chance to win the ballgame.”
The Timberwolves have been in this position before. Coming off a 15-point shellacking at Denver in Game 5 of the 2024 Western semis, they trailed the Nuggets 3-2 before responding with a 115-70 home romp to force a Game 7 and then a 98-90 shocker at Denver to earn a spot in the Western finals against Dallas.
-Field Level Media
