Superstar Anthony Edwards and his singular offensive excellence carried the Minnesota Timberwolves to a convincing first half advantage that it held onto, while the San Antonio Spurs, other than a 33-point third period, had difficulty maintaining pace throughout. The Wolves won their sixth game in seven and evened the season series in the process.
Edwards’ ability to get to his spots and convert difficult jumpers in the first and fourth kept San Antonio at bay, while the Spurs had one of their coldest shooting efforts in recent memory. Victor Wembanyama more than capably kept his end of the bargain tonight, but the Spurs’ outside shooting touch (11-for-45 from three) largely abandoned them outside of several moments early in the second half.
Observations
- Found this gem in the wayback time machine to Coach Popovich’s first win as Spurs’ coach 28 years ago. Two things of note: how hard Sean Elliott and Greg ‘Cadillac’ Anderson hugged Pop, along with Mavericks guard Jimmy Jackson’s hard shove to David Robinson’s back and the Admiral’s slow recovery from that contact.
- Seeing the two grizzled veteran point guards out there – Chris Paul and Mike Conley, Jr. – makes me feel middle-aged.
- That Julius Randle fit seems suspect – particularly the floor spacing and the absent defense.
- Sequence of the Game #1: After Jeremy Sochan impressively blocked Randle at the rim midway through the first, he fed Wembanyama upcourt who muscled in a bank shot and-1 over the bulkier Edwards.
- Sequence of the Game #2: In a sequence partway through the third period – that ended up being the most turbocharged the Spurs looked all night – a scoreless Champagnie hustled to get a steal which culminated in a Sochan-to-Wembanyama sequence, which was followed right up with a Wembanyama block and Champagnie’s first bucket of the night.
- Area 51 Alert: After a Wembanyama block on Edwards’ three, the young battery sought each other in transition in the closing minutes of hte first half to get the big man free throws.
- Victor Ease: I think he’ll get really excellent at quickly turning a blocked shot into a fruitfultransition opportunity. He did it late in the first half when he swatted a Randle floater and Vassell converted a fast break basket in about four seconds.
- Harrison Barnes gets to a good amount of 50-50 caroms on the offensive end.
- Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell nearly shot their team out of the game in the first 24 minutes.
- Temporary Spurs draft pick Rob Dillingham clanked his first two attempts, but played dogged defense.
Game Rundown
After San Antonio sliced into the Wolves’ sizable halftime lead, they were done in by poor fourth quarter execution against Minnesota’s withering defense, and unable to sustain the momentum necessary to complete a second half comeback. Minnesota’s supporting cast, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Mike Conley, Jr., turned back the Spurs run to seal the runaway road victory.
San Antonio was paced by Wembanyama’s two-way brilliance (20 points, 12 rebounds, 7 blocks, and 5 assists) along with strong production from veterans Jeremy Sochan (17 points and 15 rebounds) and Barnes (17 points).
Minnesota’s Edwards (26 points and 5 assists) received ample perimeter support at both ends from McDaniels (12 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 steals) and Alexander-Walker (17 points and 2 steals).
After hitting his second jump shot in the two minutes, Jacob Tobey noted that Edwards “is one of the toughest shot makers out there.” Wembanyama turned away two of Jaden McDaniels’ attempts. A wing three from Barnes gave San Antonio its only lead of the long night, which was quickly answered by a 5-0 Wolves run. Edwards continued knocking down shots on whoever was in front of him, and the other wingmen followed suit. A competitive start devolved into a frigid-shooting stanza – yielding a 19-28 deficit for San Antonio.
Paul found Wembanyama for a three that ended up being the only points for the teams over the first 2+ minutes. Sandro Mamukelashvili found a cutting Wembanyama for a monster slam over Rudy Gobert. Alexander-Walker put up a flurry of points to keep the Wolves safely ahead. Dillingham’s transition three put Minnesota up 14, and the difference hovered above ten for the remainder of the second. Outside of Wembanyama’s wizardry and Sochan’s hustle in the paint, there was little production from their teammates and Minnesota went to the half up 15.
Barnes’ eight point burst was countered quickly by Minnesota to start the third. The Spurs gathered four offensive rebounds and it resulted in another Barnes corner three. San Antonio’s 12-1 run spanning the middle part of the third went like this and drew them as close as three points: Champagnie’s deflection and steal allowed Sochan to find Wembanyama for a fast-break dunk, Wembanyama blocked Edwards’ floater and Champagnie’s first three of the night, and Barnes sucked in the Wolves defense and fed Sochan for a 14-footer. McDaniels and Naz Reid answered with threes to stem the tide. San Antonio went to the fourth down six after Gobert fumbled his second awkward attempt over the rim.
For the Wolves fan’s perspective please visit Dog Hoops.
San Antonio again gets a cluster of days off before taking on Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, December 19 at 7:00 PM CDT.
