The scene inside Target Center was volatile. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama had just leveled Naz Reid by slamming his right elbow into the Minnesota forward’s neck after getting sandwiched in a rough double-team.
Timberwolves fans were irate, while the Spurs and their faithful feared the worst.
That’s exactly what they got, too, after the game officials and the Replay Center in Secaucus, N.J., reviewed Wembanyma’s emotional, reflexive response. They assessed a Flagrant 2 foul, automatically disqualifying the Spurs center from the 32 minutes or so left in Game 4 Sunday of the teams’ Western Conference semifinals series.
Wembanyama had calmed down by the time the verdict was announced. Veteran forward Harrison Barnes on the visitors’ bench appeared to clue him in, that his night was over, and Wembanyama dapped up most of his teammates before exiting to the locker room.
The scene beyond Target Center felt different. You could almost hear the TVs around the planet clicking off with San Antonio’s 7-foot-4 MVP done and gone. Given how desperate the Wolves were to avoid a 3-1 hole in the series, and how the Spurs already had achieved their primary goal of winning one of the two games played in the Twin Cities, what was left of the game figured to heavily tilt Minnesota’s way.
Except it didn’t.
The Spurs responded like wounded animals, snarling and clawing to an eight-point lead in the final quarter. The Wolves gathered themselves and growled back, rode star Anthony Edwards in a 12-3 run, then made most of the pivotal plays near the end to guarantee at least two more clashes before this is settled, beginning with Game 5 back in San Antonio Tuesday (8 ET, NBC/Peacock).
Here are four takeaways from Minnesota’s 114-109 victory:
1. Losing Wembanyama
The Spurs center’s pointy elbow into Reid’s mush crossed the NBA line on flagrancy. No doubt about it. At the same time, his reaction was completely understandable, based on how physical these games have been and what the Wolves (and the Trail Blazers in the first round) have done to pound Wembanyama out of his comfort zone.
With just 235 pounds stretched the length of his 88-inch frame, the lean and lanky Frenchman still needs to get stronger, three years into his NBA career. Until then, opponents will try to push, bang, and foul him as much as possible, inflicting pain, sure, but also to get into Wembanyama’s head.
Those tactics are nothing to be proud of, but the playoffs are the whatever-it-takes time of the year. In the instant before Wembanyama swung that elbow at Reid crowding behind him, he had been bopped in the face by the Wolves’ Jaden McDaniels and had McDaniels hanging with both hands on his left arm.
“The amount of physicality that people play with him, at some level you have to protect yourself,” San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said. “Every single play on every single part of the floor, people are trying to impose their physicality on him. We get it – that’s part of the game. But he’s gotten chucked, he’s gotten pushed down in transition running freely, all the stuff. He doesn’t complain one time. We don’t complain. We’re just going to play. … but at some stage he should be protected and if not, he’s going to protect himself.”
This particular double-team looked more like a pro wrestling tag team run amok. Two assailants + zero whistle = one nasty elbow.
Spurs guard Dylan Harper said: “You could see the frustration, and I can see where he was coming from.”
2. So much Edwards
Johnson felt the remaining Spurs were “phenomenal” in how they responded to Wembanyama’s absence. In the third quarter, they limited the Wolves to 20 points, scored 28, got nine points off turnovers and even had more points in the paint, 20-9, despite losing their Plastic-Man zone down near the rim.
Luke Kornet gave them some Wemby Lite work at both ends to soothe the bigger fellow’s absence. It was 94-86 with 8:49 left in the fourth when Minnesota called timeout, then called on Edwards.
The Wolves shooting guard scored 10 points in that 12-3 run and 16 in the quarter overall. Coach Chris Finch had others bring up the ball to fend off the double teams being thrown at Edwards, and never mind his barking knees, he logged 40 minutes for the second consecutive game. Save for a little explosiveness that turned sure dunks into layup, he appears to be good for what’s left of the series.
3. Not all Edwards, though
Had the PA announcer bellowed – after Harper’s layup put the Spurs in front 101-100 with 3:22 left – that Edwards would score just two more points, the Target Center crowd would have stirred uneasily.
But his teammates were properly re-engaged by that point, and it was the supporting cast that took it home.
Reid, back on the floor after suffering a nasty ankle turn and fall minutes earlier, found Rudy Gobert with a bullet pass inside for a three-point play. Edwards chipped in a romp to the rim. Then it was Gobert with another dunk, pouncing when Kornet left him to help on Julius Randle.
Ayo Dosunmu attacked the Wemby-less heart of San Antonio’s defense after that for an and-1 that made it 110-103, and Reid put back an offensive rebound. Then Dosunmu saved a late possession by leaping for a long inbounds pass, getting his leg on it when his hands weren’t enough and sealing the deal.
Said Finch: “We’ve got to make those small plays, those dirty plays.”
4. The Spurs’ unused challenge?
Johnson might have been saving his final challenge for a more egregious erroneous call in the final minutes. The Spurs assistant charged with giving the yay or nay vote on whether to use it might have viewed the play differently. Or Edwards just got to the line and got up his first free throw quicker than the green light could be summoned.
Still, the Spurs bench might have missed an opportunity to slow the home team’s comeback. With 5:51 to go and San Antonio hanging on 97-93, Edwards attacked and got disrupted by defender Julian Champagnie.
The NBC replay seemed to show that Champagnie met the Wolves guard in the air and made contact with the ball and Edwards’ hand.
Ref Brent Barnaky noticed the latter but appeared not to see the former when he whistled the foul on Champagnie. Edwards hit both foul shots to keep the pressure on the Spurs.
Johnson never did use that challenge, letting it die in his pocket at the final horn.
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
