The San Antonio Spurs (3-2) defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves (2-3) in a pivotal game five, 126-97.
Yahoo Box Score Link
ESPN Box Score Link
The post game thread generator seems to be down at the moment. Will add the box score later once it becomes available
Going on a 14-2 run to tie the game at 61 only to then allow the Spurs to go on a 30-12 run all in the third quarter is peak Timberwolves basketball
Wolves giveth hope, wolves taketh hope away
Bring ya ass
Wait nah nvm
Hell nawl can’t do dis
*sad trombone*
Inside the Wolves there are two wolves
This but all Minnesota mens sports.
This has always been my problem with the Finch Timberwolves going back to the Grizzlies series. Their insanely volatile.
They get themselves into holes they barely crawl out of, then run out of steam which is when the Spurs can turn it back up with their better depth. Its like a diet version of the Lakers/OKC series, death by a hundred cuts instead of 1000
It reminds me so much of my Cowboys under Jason Garrett. They’d have these baffling 1st or 2nd quarters where they dug a hole, lock in and have an insane 3rd, then it’d be a coin flip if they had enough time/momentum to hold on in the 4th quarter.
It’s why I can’t help but wonder if a coaching change isn’t part of the Timberwolves taking that next step.
clap clap clap clap
If they lose this series (which is very likely) I think its on the table, along with trading for Giannis or another star along with getting off of Randle. They can only take so many bites at the apple but its clear they need a change (along with staying healthy)
Castle took over at that point and led an awesome response.
Thought it was Harper??
Harper got it going a little later, but Castle was the one who had the run from when the game was tied, unless I’m completely crazy.
Can’t believe a team would ever let the Spurs do that.
Julius Randle
Wemby ain’t falling for their shit again lol
He’s crushing ‘em
Harper is special, man.
Second highest ceiling on the team and that’s from somebody that loves Castle.
Yeah he just plays so poised I need him to start or split minutes with Fox next season we can’t let him sit behind him for too long when he’s just as good as him already
He could legit be a 6moty
He needs to be a starter. His game is way too mature to be wasted coming off the bench. I think Fox is the odd dawg out between Castle, Harper, and himself.
Counterpoint: Manu Ginobili
Manu could have reached bigger highs tbh, what Manu did was sacrifice for the team
Harper has potential to be top 3 pg in the league. He’s going to be better than manu. It’s just a matter if he gets the opportunity and that’s why he needs to start
Imagine replacing Wemby, Castle and Harper with Egor Demin, Ron Holland and Scoot Henderson. The lottery is a cruel mistress. I’m bitter
I mean you guys got two number 1 picks in the span of like 6 years, I don’t think you can be thaaat bitter
We’ve been in the lottery 22 times and moved up once, you’ve been in the lottery 12 times and moved up 7 times. Don’t tell me how bitter I should be
To be fair, when you start with a bad spot in the lottery, you are way more likely to move up, while a good lottery position makes you way more likely to move down. Still, we’ve been insanely lucky, and those numbers you pointed out are insane
Imagine if the Wolves had Curry and DeRozan in 2009 instead.
You sound plenty bitter already honestly
I’m malding that y’all got the 1st, 4th and 2nd pick in consecutive drafts, and they will all hits
Didn’t yall draft kat and ant? Imagine if we had wemby AND cooper…
Castle and Harper with Wemby is 2012 OKC big 3 vibes
except the Spurs are like multiple years younger too 💀
Is it crazy to say that he could be as good as Cade?
Not crazy at all he could be better tbh
Cade is a #1 option on a 60 win team wtf are yall talking about man
…and Harper could definitely also reach those heights
He obviously isn’t as good right now and he won’t be as good next year, but the signs are there. Incredible footwork, truly excellent defender, has a relatively complete offensive game that he usually just doesn’t have to dig into, and is certainly capable of being one of the league’s premier playmakers
That 1 dunk was impressive felt like he didn’t have his legs under him, and them 5 offensive rebounds were big time!
This series has caused me a lot of stress and doubt which isn’t shocking because the Timberwolves are a really good team. But the absolute biggest bright spot is Dylan Harper. Playoff experience is like gold that only few can enjoy and the fact that he’s showing out off the bench as a rookie gives me a great feeling that he’ll make a big leap in the years to come.
We were all witnesses to playoff Biyombo
I just saw a Kelly Olynyk 3 in 2026
i love the Olynyk sock check in every game
Playoff Biymobo unironically GOATed in Raptors lore tho…
One of the GROATs greatest accomplishments is getting biyombo paid
Biyombo more conference finals than Embiid, food for thought.
My favorite player ever I love Bis
I remember when people were like, “It doesn’t make sense to draft Harper when they have Castle.”
Turns out if you just pick really good players, good things happen.
Helps that Harper can shoot
That was when Fox was the 2nd best player on the team
Harper got the loudest 12 and 10. He’s him.
A backup guard getting 10 boards where he’s going against Naz, Randle, and/or Gobert at any time seems otherworldly. That rebound out of position over Conley was just absurd.
Naz, Randle, and/or Gobert
I love Harper but only 1 of those guys can actually rebound lol
I was in shock seeing he only scored 12 after I saw the box score. They were indeed a loud 12
It’s because he’s so damn efficient with it. So we never see him miss anything basically these days
Get Randle off my team
Dubious Handles
Foolius Randle
Having randle on our team feels like an inside joke that everyone except the wolves are in on
Damn, is this series the tipping point?
Wolves fans are calling for randles neck 😬
I’ve been calling for it since halfway through our first season with him when it was clear he’s just worst-case-scenario Ant.
Tall D’lo, if you will.
Whats frustrating to me is that he won so many doubters over last year
He’s been terrible all series and if there is any contract on the Wolves that could be traded for a star due to cap flexibility it’s his.
He’s always bad in the playoffs. I used to get downvoted for saying get Randle off the Knicks after every playoff series underperformance.
I thought he finally turned it around last year. Was actually impressed with his play.
He did, and about half way through this season he went back to who everyone thought he was. Really weird, I don’t know what happened.
Being rumored in Giannis trades might have something to do with that
More than that though it’s still a roster construction problem. He can’t dump it consistently to Gobert cuz his hands are blocks, and he doesn’t have an effective facilitator. So he ISOs like crazy and it’s just really tough offense to watch. No points are easy. I just want easy offense for our team next year. Otherwise this is probably our ceiling with the Spurs and Thunder in our conference for the next few years.
Haven’t watched you guys all season except our games. Has he been that bad? I’ll always respect him for helping to get the Knicks on track and in the playoffs but knew we could not continue with him
He’s been shit ever since the Giannis rumors.
Can we at least wait till the series is over?
No takey backsies :)
Great showing for the whole team tonight lead by The People’s Elbow. Big Body finally showing up. Dylan Harper is my favorite player in the league.
Man, let us end it in game 6 please. My mental health can’t take anymore of this series.
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Never been more clear that we’re watching a GOAT level talent. Spurs look unbeatable when he’s on the court
Wemby is already looking like the best player in the world.
Spurs have only lost 3 times since Feb 1 when Wemby has played the full game.
Spurs v Thunder playoff series every year will feed families for generations, just like the Spurs v Lakers matchups during the early 2000s, when those two teams won the West like 7 years in a row lol
Just wait until we see the Thunder lol.
I probably might finally get therapy then…
nah it’s 2026 we’re doing drugs again
I’ll go bald in that series
“The People’s Elbow” lolol
Dylan Harper is so fucking awesome already
I never liked the nickname alien in the first place.
Sounds so weak and harmless.
The people’s elbow is so tuff
Guillotine is better
On the edge of my seat even when we up 20 against these guys. Need a relaxing series even if we get smashed by OKC lol.
The People’s Elbow should become one of Wemby’s nicknames.
What more can I say about vic, lets talk about Harper future superstar
Harper is so smooth and composed for a rookie, it’s ridiculous
Do you know how many times I had to read or hear that the Spurs were stupid for taking him over Kon and VJ? Hopefully this puts that to bed.
Only time will tell really, both the other guys are great players. But Harper is great too. I think it’s ended up being an everyone’s happy situation
Let’s not undersell Kon or VJ, they both look phenomenal. I will just continue to be happy with Harper, just as Hornets will be happy with Kon and 6ers with VJ. Everyone wins (except the other 26 teams).
He has insane confidence to play at this level in the playoffs as a rookie. He’s arguably our 2nd best player after Wemby this playoffs.
If it wasn’t for Duren I would have Randle as the most disappointing player in the second round.
I think this is who Randle is, he is exceptional at a single style of basketball. Bully ball attacking while drawing fouls and his drive pull up shot and hitting a few as well. I think Wemby is probably the worst match up for him and the rest of the Spurs team has pretty exceptional defense that he struggles to work around.
Put him in a situation where he can succeeded and he will like verse Denver. But he’s not versatile enough to be effective in more situations like Edwards can be.
I was happy to see Johnson start doing the “Randle” this game and just charging into the paint and shoving players with the off hand. Refs don’t call it for Randle, so glad they let Johnson eat too.
You can really see the impact that hobbled Ant and no DDV has in this series. It’s like literally impossible to generate any good looks in our starting lineup without DDV and healthy Ant because Rudy and Randle aren’t threats to create any spacing. Like our offense was saved by the fact that we have 2 of the best volume 3pt shooters in the nba.
Like our offense was saved by the fact that we have 2 of the best volume 3pt shooters in the nba.
Everyone should try having 2 of the best volume 3pt shooters in the nba. Can confirm it makes things easier.
It’s funny that the warriors were known for inventing spacing whereas in reality Curry’s insane gravity allowed multiple non-shooters to be playable at the same time.
Yeah but Ant has been insane. I think he is the best pure scorer in the league right now. Even better than Shai.
I genuinely think ant is better than sga.
Ant is great but he has a lot to work on to get to the level imo. he’s turnover prone, isn’t a great passer, and struggles with double teams. I don’t really think he is there yet cause of those reasons. His main advantage over sga is 3 point shooting and explosiveness.
I do think ant can get there though. He’s still very young and guy pulls something new into his bag every off season. He got a solid midrange shot this year for example.
That’s crazy. SGA’s synergy with the refs creates so much room for him to operate. Ant could never get separation just by existing.
Naz Reid has been the Wolves most playable big this series. Any chance we see him start next game and Randle to the bench? Getting some looks in non Wemby non Ant minutes might get him going but honestly Randles been abysmal this series except for rebounding.
That’s what 90% of wolves fans are calling for, but it would never happen.
I think Randle is sometimes playing better than the box score indicates, as ugly as his shooting and turnovers have been. But the real reason is that Naz looks his best when Randle is also out there too, so Finch would never do the 1-1 swap (Finch also just loves Randle)
Ayo is hurt as well
Rudy at least had been finishing well up until this game. Bad time for him to play so poorly. I give him a pass though.
Randle on the other hand, has he forgotten how to shoot a normal jumper? Everything is wildly flailing off balance trying to draw a foul. Seems like he has no confidence in his game right now. You are right that they can’t play those two together.
McDaniel’s reverted back to getting a bunch of dumb fouls too, which forced Finch to play some less than ideal lineups.
Such is this Wolves team. High highs and low lows. Hope they can catch fire in game 6 because without Donte, it seems like the Spurs have them figured out.
Somehow, Dubious Handles returned.
Dubious Handle is my single favourite NBA nickname of all time, it really is. Its almost perfect.
Somehow?
This would have been over in 5 games if Wemby didn’t rage like a bull seeing red.
The Spurs may regret that eventually, especially since it will give OKC more rest.
It is what it is. We’ve been better on shorter rest anyways but the series is far from over.
If he didn’t lose his cool then, he 100% woulda lost it during the OKC series by like Game 2. Better to make the mistake and learn now.
lowkey yeah. because if he doesn’t like how Minnesota is whacking him and cutting him up, OKC is just going to be the exact same thing. So better get that frustration and emotion out sooner rather than later
Spurs are a young enough team that I can cope and say the extra games worth of experience is worth more than the rest.
Honestly okc getting rest is a disadvantage
50⁄50. If it means Dub is good to go then I’ll take it. I feel like a lot of us wouldn’t be surprised if we drop Game 1 no matter who gets through, but we’ll see. We haven’t had a truly competitive game in a few weeks.
damn man, I thought last night was pretty competitive
I didn’t mean it in a disrespectful way my bad. I just meant we haven’t really gone up against someone like the Spurs to see if we are clicking or it’s just fool’s gold. You guys put up a good fight last night and it was the first game of the series that didn’t follow the same script of you running out of gas.
at least that got the refs to call it a lot better than what it was. everyone gonna complain but wemby was clearly held and pushed every possession before the elbow
I personally felt it was the best officiated game this series by far.
They let them play but called it when it was too much.
Iron sharpens iron
There are still games to play
The third year in a row the Timberwolves have been loudly reminded in the playoffs just how large the gap is between themselves and real championship contenders.
The Timberwolves’ “physicality” is so brittle. They like to win games on strength/sheer overwhelming physicality, but the second a team doesn’t lay down and get rolled over, and starts dishing it back, everything collapses. Ball movement, aggression at the rim, smart decision making, getting back in transition, they just give up.
Spurs should not have outmuscled or outhustled the Timberwolves so badly and yet they did. Timberwolves were only competitive when there was a lid on the Spurs’ bucket and when Ant was in godmode. The other 75% of the time has been an absolute curb stomp.
I don’t think the gap is huge between Twolves and contenders. I just think their brand of basketball with no PG and Rudy+Julius makes them a really high variance team and its hard to win 4 series in a row like that
I mean the team is high variance because like you said we don’t have a PG but also because we don’t have a consistent #2. It all comes down to Ant playing like a superstar and our role players over performing because Randle is playing like a dud.
I feel like if we could hit our threes we could compete with anyone but when we can’t it gets really ugly and turns into a game of how is Ant going to save the team this time.
The addition of Ayo has been huge and Donte has been insane before he got hurt but they’re no #2 on a contender. We also have no pet plays to get easy buckets and have nobody capable of taking over when Ant gets doubled which really lowers our ceiling.
Timberwolves have no plan on offense just pray Edwards or Naz Reid does something amazing
The physicality is because we’re outmatched so we got to drag the other team down into the mud with us. It worked against the Nuggets because they’re soft but the Spurs have too many dawgs on that team.
Ant is going to die of exhaustion from having to carry on both sides of the floor while Randle can barely decide if he wants to be good or not.
It also doesn’t help that Jaden is a #3⁄4 on a good team and Naz is a 6th man. The only saving grace is Ayo who can apply pressure outside of Ant.
Reading way too much into this. Losing Donte was absolutely huge for our offensive spacing and our defense, and Ant is playing with double knee injuries. This will be a “what if” season, happens to a lot of teams. Can’t predict injuries.
Or when it doesn’t work because the other team isn’t prideful or stupid and they just flop
they overachieved by making the conference finals two years in a row. I don’t think even an unbiased Wolves fan thinks their team is has the 2nd best roster in the West for the past 2 years.
I feel like the Wolves roster is just built to only challenge the Nuggets
Well their roster thrives off weak interior defense, so yeah
Tbf, it took them to 2 conference finals
You can’t argue with results lol.
They aren’t healthy. A rematch between healthy wolves and improved Spurs would be awesome next year
To be fair, you can’t make it past the Nuggets if you don’t beat them!
Lmaoo they have the best basketball player in the world and we got julius randle guarding him.
GG spurs, hopefully adam silver moves us to the east soon so we don’t have to deal with this upcoming dynasty 🤣
I was told that Randle would be the Wemby stopper. lol
By who? A homeless drunk?
randle can’t stop shit, nor can he score. All he can do is rack up fouls
i thought he played good D, but yeah having Randle as your 2nd best player is rough.
Kids are gonna take so much away from this series.
Have to be on from the get go, put the opposition on the back foot.
No matter what next round (assuming spurs advance) the Thunder are going to be much more experienced and composed, but being able to make mistakes here and get an actual challenge from the wolves could be what evens the playing field enough for them.
Spurs in SIX
It’s called the race for seis for a reason
Mike Conley had the tuffest 5 points I’ve ever seen
Respect to Mike Conley and Ant and NAZ REID.
I wish Naz played for the spurs. I don’t know if that can work now
Classic Wemby show up after a disasterclass
The pressure Wemby puts on teams on both sides of the ball is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. On offense, he is such a roll threat that the ball handler will get an open layup or they can kick for wide open three almost every play. Defense goes without saying.
Is Wemby more of a force than even Shaq was?
Fuck no. He’s a more skilled player for sure but Shaq is far and away the most imposing player to ever play basketball. The entire opposing team could be grouped under the rim and it didn’t matter, he would just bulldoze them and literally rip the backboard down. When all said and done Wemby will probably fall on the all time list as a better player than Shaq, but will never usurp him as the most physically dominant player of all time imo.
Good take
It’s obviously a totally different physicality. Shaq as force is unmatched. But the threat Wemby is on both sides of the ball I think could be greater overall.
Shaq wasn’t a classically great defender but people were scared to drive on him or get laid out. But Wemby is a goat level defender wrecking teams single handedly. A head to head matchup would be so intriguing.
Agree. Shaq also had impeccable footwork, better than Wemby but Wemby obviously has a lot of time to work on that.
I like Rudy more than most but if this dude can’t catch a simple fucking pass put him on the bench. It’s not even like you can argue defensive impact because all the Spurs guards are attacking the paint like he is food.
I see those Wolves guards second guessing their passes to him
Kornet was doubling ant at one point at the top of the key and Rudy was cutting to the basket. He didn’t even think about passing him the ball.
Gobert is so weird. He was great against the Nuggets but poor in this series.
Wemby is a different beast and spurs have a deeper team. Unfortunately yalls team never clicked.
Wemby has been a lot tougher in the post then Jokic was against Gobert. Jokic started chucking 3s instead and missing.
Because nuggets are nowhere as good on defense as the spurs, and the spurs punish Rudy’s bad offensive game. Nuggets really don’t.
Hes a good post defender not a good mobile center
He’s not burdened to be productive offensively against Denver when Denver’s defense is nonexistent. Denver doesn’t have any slashers to put pressure on Gobert as well.
Wemby is just an absolute monster
Castle is damn good too
Twi plays from Castle really stood out to me:
Sorry if it’s not 100% clear which plays are which, I don’t exactly remember which quarter each was
What’s weird is the Wolves winning two games without being able to inbound a ball or bring it up to halfcourt.
Nah thats just classic Wolves
I don’t expect the Wolves to go out quietly, but if they get by the Spurs in 7 and this is the team they’re bringing against OKC, they will 100% get wrecked.
OKC is exactly like San Antonio except their offense doesn’t turn off to let them back in. They’ll probably double Ant too.
OKC is weird because they are a bit smaller than the Spurs but they have better sustain offense and defense. But they can be bullied by physicality if the refs let them play, they almost go out two times last playoff going to 7 two times.
That’s a declaration of war
40 and 30 pt wins in the same series, not bad
Yeah, let’s see what he can do when he has to deal with playoff physicality…
I forgot the playoffs are ‘Different™’
There’s a reason why Randle got traded out of NY.
Honestly this would have been over in 5 without the elbow. The Spurs just have so many talented guys. Idk if they can take OKC this year, but their time is coming soon.
I genuinely think this Spurs can beat OKC in the next round if they make it through
Wolves built to beat Denver
Wolves aren’t fully healthy and lack depth
Spurs are better team, better coached better players all around
Looking at OKC vs Spurs for a few years
Knicks fans will sleep well tonight
Probably would’ve been over if Wemby didn’t channel his inner KG
Spurs were a “missed open three” and a “Wemby elbow” away from sweeping this series. Good prep for next round.
Frankly, I’m happy things have played out as they have. That game 1 loss showed a bit of inexperience (just chucking up an insane amount of 3s lmao), and Wemby losing his cool likely needed to happen before they play OKC.
Dylan is a rookie btw
Once Jaden picked up his 4th, it was over. This team falls off a cliff when he and Ant aren’t in.
All respect to the Wolves but I just see a repeat of last year WCF results if they advance, let the Spurs have a bite at the Thunder.
If the Spurs don’t defeat the Thunder I’m gonna be big sad
I wish I had a recording of the phone call between the league office and the ref crew, because this game was called like a million times tighter than game 4.
Throw a comma in the sum bitch man. I thought i was having a stroke.
“Wolves lose wild lost frost just lost.”
Yes, but Dr. Seuss would be proud.
The T’Wolves need a point guard. Can’t believe they’ve gotten this far without one.
“Say the line Bart”
Bart: “the team who wins a pivotal game give has an 82% chance to win the series”
whenever john randle gets to posting up, its fucking 95⁄5 hes going to lose the ball dribbling. hes the deandre ayton of power fowards im convinced
Wemby is just absurd
Dylan Harper
The Spurs vs OKC series gonna be lit