Victor Wembanyama made a historic defensive stand Monday night to kick off the Western Conference semifinals. Remarkably, it wasn’t enough to lead the San Antonio Spurs to the win.
The Minnesota Timberwolves surged ahead in the final minutes Monday at the Frost Bank Center to grab a 104-102 win over the Spurs in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. It marked star Anthony Edwards’ first game back after he went down with a bone bruise in his knee nine days ago.
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Wembanyama broke the NBA postseason single-game blocks record in the contest and was an incredible force inside. He had 12 blocks in the loss, which surpassed a mark that had been reached only three other times in league history.
Wembanyama matched the old record of 10 in just three quarters. He then came up with an 11th block to break the record minutes into the fourth quarter, stuffing Anthony Edwards at the rim.
Andrew Bynum, with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012, was the last player to record double-digit blocks in a playoff game. Hakeem Olajuwon and Mark Eaton are the other two.
Now the reigning Defensive Player of the Year stands alone atop that list. And it was only the fifth playoff game of his career.
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But even with that, the Spurs are down 1-0 in this series.
Minnesota unfazed by Wemby block party
Edwards played on a minutes restriction and came off the bench Monday, but he looked like his old self.
After a quick foul right away, he immediately made an impact. Edwards helped spark a 12-2 burst to keep the Timberwolves out in front in the opening quarter, which included burying a huge 3-pointer and then immediately letting the Spurs bench know about it.
But the Spurs never went away, and the two teams went into halftime tied. Wembanyama had seven blocks at the break. Two of those came on the Timberwolves’ first two offensive possessions of the game, and two more came when he blocked Julius Randle consecutively down low to force a shot-clock violation midway through the second quarter.
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Though Wembanyama shined defensively, he had just six points and went 0-of-5 from the 3-point line in the first 24 minutes.
Wembanyama opened the second half with a quick left-handed dunk right through Rudy Gobert, but both teams kept going back and forth the entire third quarter. The Spurs took a three-point lead into the final period after a wild buzzer-beating floater from Keldon Johnson.
At that point, Wembanyama had matched the league’s single-game playoff block record.
Then just minutes into the fourth quarter, Wembanyama blocked Edwards at the rim for his 11th rejection to set the record. That set up a layup from De’Aaron Fox on the other end, which put the Spurs up three.
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That block sparked something in the Timberwolves. They rattled off a 14-2 burst, capped by a Mike Conley 3-pointer from the corner, to suddenly grab a nine-point lead — their largest of the game. The Spurs, and Wembanyama, looked flustered.
After a Minnesota miss and Spurs rebound, Julian Champagnie had a good look at a game-winner with San Antonio not opting to call a timeout, but he was just off the mark. The Timberwolves, even with a Wembanyama that was nearly impossible to get around, escaped with the two-point win.
Randle led Minnesota with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Edwards, who ended up playing 25 minutes, had 18 points off the bench and shot 8-of-13 from the field.
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Dylan Harper led San Antonio with 18 points off the bench. He was one of seven Spurs to hit double figures in the loss. Wembanyama had 11 points and 15 rebounds to go with his 12 blocks. He went 0-of-8 from behind the arc and made only five field goals on the night on 17 attempts.
Wembanyama is still behind the all-time single-game blocks record. Elmore Smith had 17 with the Lakers in 1973, which was the first season blocks were fully recorded. Manute Bol and Shaquille O’Neal have each recorded 15 in a game.
Game 2 of the series is set for Wednesday night in San Antonio.
