After last night’s game, when Clutch Sports Hector Ledesma reporter asked Anthony Edwards what makes the Timberwolves play so hard against the Spurs, the “Ant-Man” responded,
“They got Wemby.”
This was the
third meeting of the Spurs and Timberwolves, but only the second to include Victor Wembanyama. Wemby wasn’t available last November. Last Sunday, Minnesota came back form a 19-point deficit to steal a one-point win.
Last night, they threatened to do it again.
The Spurs lost three of the four quarters in last night’s game, but it was their 48-point second quarter —the Spurs highest since 1987 — that kept them just out of the Timberwolves reach.
In fact, the Spurs went into the locker room with a 25-point lead only to lose the third and fourth quarter, the lead and scramble to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
Once the Spurs relinquished the lead, it was the back and forth between Victor Wembanyama and Anthony Edwards that kept the fires burning. From hot shooting to the two battling each other one-on-one, their cutthroat style of play on the court and their comments regarding one another reveals mutual respect.
Wemby’s response Edwards candor,
“It’s an honor and it’s the best thing to have the best players go as hard as they can because it makes us better, it makes me better.”
Anthony Edwards scored 55-points, a career high, in their loss. Considering it was the second night of a back-to-back for Minnesota, making it a game down the stretch was impressive, though of little consolation to the team who’s been knocked out of the Western Conference Finals twice over the last two seasons.
Edwards, one of the most adept players of this generation, carried the lion’s share for the Timberwolves. Of ten players who saw time, only six scored. And Edwards, along with Jaden Daniels and Julius Randle, all played over 40 minutes apiece.
For the Spurs, Victor Wembanyama led the team with 39 points, trading baskets with Edwards as the final frame was dwindling down. Fortunately, Wemby got support from all angles. From Fox and Castle’s assists to Champagnie’s rebounds, from Barnes’ timely threes to Luke Kornet’s momentum shifting block, there were highlights from all angles. But none rocked the Frost Bank Center more Keldon Johnson’s clutch three that eventually put the game in the win column.
And a game in the win column is what the Spurs will focus on for the moment. There is film left to analyze, there are edges left to smooth, but as Wembanyama stated after giving up a twenty,
“We’ve got to win no matter what.”
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