Early in the second quarter tonight, Victor Wembanyama, who was being manhandled by multiple players every time he entered the game, tried to spin his way out of a double bear hug from a couple of Wolves, and caught Naz Reid hard on the neck with an elbow. The referees called this a flagrant foul two, which resulted in an immediate ejection for the Spurs best player and emotional leader. It was a move that didn’t look intentional at all to me, but that was not the judgment of the officials, who had an interesting evening calling the game.
The Spurs almost overcame Wemby’s absence with some solid performances with their trio of elite guards, as Dylan Harper had a solid night on both ends of the court, Steph Castle had another great night, and De’Aaron Fox stepped up late in the game with timely scoring. Luke Kornet had a good outing as the sole big, protecting the rim while he was in. The Spurs had to go small for long stretches of the game and that’s when Minnesota took advantage of the Spurs lack of rim protection. Carter Bryant couldn’t get going tonight, and he committed a few bad fouls, which limited his minutes. The Spurs tried to control Anthony Edwards by double teaming him every time he touched the ball, but he’s just too good to completely stop, as he took over the game in the fourth quarter with 14 points and brought them back from an 8 point deficit to take the the lead with 3 minutes left. Rudy Gobert made some key plays in the comeback as he took advantage of the Spurs lack of size to grab timely rebounds and put them through the iron circle thing bolted to the backboard, a thing that he’s mostly unfamiliar with.
The Spurs almost pulled off an improbable rally in the last 30 seconds, but Minnesota was able to avoid a turnover as Ayo Dosunmu somehow bounced the ball off his trailing leg and kept it in bounds to keep the Spurs from having a shot to tie it up with 10 seconds left. Despite their valiant effort, the Spurs couldn’t quite eke out a win tonight, and this series is going to at least six games. It resumes on Tuesday at 7:00 PM in San Antonio, which is now a must-win game for the Silver and Black squad.
The Spurs will play Minnesota in the Frost Bank Center on Tuesday night, at 7:00 PM because it’s the only game of the night after the Knicks swept the Sixers.