The San Antonio Spurs will have star center Victor Wembanyama back on the court when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals.
The best-of-seven series is knotted at 2-2 after the Timberwolves captured Game 4 114-109 on Sunday in Minneapolis. Game 6 will be back in the Twin Cities on Friday, with a deciding Game 7 (if necessary) set for Sunday in the Alamo City.
Minnesota rode Anthony Edwards’ 36 points to a Game 4 victory in which the Spurs were without Wembanyama for more than two and a half quarters. Wembanyama was ejected from the contest with 8:39 to play in the second quarter after being assessed a Flagrant 2 technical foul for swinging his right elbow into the neck of the Timberwolves’ Naz Reid while in a scrum.
It was Wembanyama’s first career ejection and certainly changed the complexion of the game and the series as a whole. The NBA announced Monday that he would not face further disciplinary action, meaning he can fully participate in Tuesday’s pivotal game that will put the winner on the brink of clinching the contentious series.
“It shows how deep we can dig and the toughness that we have,” Reid said of the Wolves. “We have a lot more basketball to play. We’ve been through a lot. We’ve been together, been to two Western Conference finals. That’s the experience they talk about.”
Some have pointed to Wembanyama’s inexperience in the playoffs for his ejection, but Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said the 22-year-old phenom has taken a beating all year long — not just in the postseason.
“At some point (Wembanyama is) gonna have to protect himself,” Johnson said. “We’ve been asking him to do that now for a while. The call was warranted, but in terms of the game plan of every single team we face since that young man’s been in the league, the physicality that people try to impose on him and the lack of protection is really disappointing.”
Even without Wembanyama, San Antonio built an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter before the mercurial Edwards took charge.
Despite still being limited by a knee injury he suffered in Minnesota’s first-round series with Denver, Edwards poured in 16 of his points in the final period and assisted on two Rudy Gobert dunks in the final minutes that allowed the Timberwolves to charge to the front and hold on.
“Honestly, I think it was kind of harder (without Wembanyama),” Edwards said. “Of course, they are a really great team with him on the floor, but they play a lot slower when he’s on the floor. It’s just like when every team is missing their best player and everyone (else) plays free, more confident.”
Reid racked up 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Minnesota, with Jaden McDaniels scoring 14, Julius Randle tallying 12 and Gobert amassing 11 points and 13 rebounds.
San Antonio was paced by De’Aaron Fox and reserve guard Dylan Harper with 24 points apiece, while Stephon Castle added 20 and Devin Vassell hit for 14.
“We will keep our head,” Harper said. “This series wasn’t gonna be easy — we all knew that. But for all of us, just keeping that mentality and just keep on attacking, and then just keep going with the game plan, just being us.
“We just got to tighten up as a team on the little things because the little things kind of come out the most in those stretches. It’s just staying together, being together, just battling to the end.”
