The San Antonio Spurs look to parlay their power, overall depth and momentum into a victory when they host the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is on Wednesday in the Alamo City before the series shifts to Minneapolis for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Second-seeded San Antonio earned a spot in the semis after beating sixth-seeded Portland in five games while Minnesota, the fifth-seed, needed six games to eliminate fourth-seeded Denver.
Expect defense to be at the forefront of the series, especially with French big men Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs — the reigning unanimous Defensive Player of the Year — and Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert, a four-time winner of that award (most recently in 2024), roaming the paint. The two were teammates on France’s Olympic squad in 2024 and Gobert has been a mentor for the 22-year-old Wembanyama.
“I’ve watched him evolve. I’ve watched the way he works, the way he takes care of himself, his thirst for knowledge,” Gobert said Saturday about Wembanyama. “Outside of the talent, he’s someone that is a very unique soul, very unique mind. Nothing is an accident. It’s not an accident he’s having the success he’s having. He’s preparing his mind, preparing his body like I’ve rarely seen someone do.”
Much of the discussion, at least for the early part of the series, is about how the Timberwolves can compete with San Antonio without star guard Anthony Edwards, who is on the shelf with a hyperextended knee injury that kept him out of the final two games of the series with Denver.
Minnesota relied on its reserve players and a career-playoff high 24 points from Terrence Shannon Jr. in the clinching 110-98 win on Friday, and will lean heavily on its bench against the Spurs.
Minnesota coach Chris Finch lauded his team for coming together in the face of adversity and a slew of injuries. That included the play of Shannon, who was all over the court in Friday’s victory.
“I thought he’d give us a boost. I didn’t realize it would be like this,” Finch said about Shannon. “Not just with his scoring, but I think he made a lot of emotional energy plays that got the crowd into it. This is one of the best collective efforts that we’ve had here. Just all the adversity that we’ve faced through that series, and keep fighting, keep guarding, and keep leaning into defense.”
Edwards was at the Timberwolves’ practice Saturday, shooting without jumping and moving slowly. He could return for Game 3 but until then it will be up to Gobert, forward Julius Randle (who was second to Edwards this season in scoring at 21.1 points per game) and the rest of the team’s role players.
It’s Minnesota’s third straight trip to the West semifinals.
“Very saddened about all of their injuries,” Wembanyama said about Minnesota’s walking wounded, “But we’re excited. We’re locked in. We know it’s going to be harder than our first series. (The Timberwolves have) great individual players. Tough team. It’s just a team that forces you to be on for 48 minutes every time.”
The Spurs have had six days to rest after closing out their series versus Portland with a 114-95 home win on April 28. De’Aaron Fox led San Antonio, scoring 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, while Wembanyama added 17 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots in the victory as the Spurs won their first playoff series since the 2016-17 campaign.
San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson understands that his team will be hard-pressed to beat the Timberwolves. Minnesota won two of the three games against the Spurs in the regular season, both of them on its home court.
“They guard, they’re physical, they try to impose their will and their competitiveness on you,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Saturday about the Timberwolves. “And they got a lot of individuals that take pride in that. In terms of their style of play and their disposition and brand I don’t think (the injuries) changes too much.
“Obviously, they showed the type of character and resolve and competitiveness they have.”
Fox could be the wild card in the series. He has averaged 23 points per game in his career against Minnesota, his third-highest average against any opponent.
–Field Level Media
