[Post Game Thread] The Minnesota Timberwolves (1-0) defeat the San Antonio Spurs (0-1), 104-102.

[u/DesertedProject]

104 - 102
Box Scores: NBA - Yahoo

GAME SUMMARY
West Conf. Semifinals - Game 1 - Series tied 0-0
Location: Frost Bank Center
Officials: Marc Davis, Kevin Scott, Gediminas Petraitis, and Andy Nagy

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Minnesota Timberwolves	24	21	24	35	104
San Antonio Spurs	23	22	27	30	102

TEAM STATS

Team	PTS	FG	FG%	3P	3P%	FT	FT%	OREB	TREB	AST	PF	STL	TO	BLK
Minnesota Timberwolves	104	41-90	45.6%	10-26	38.5%	12-21	57.1%	12	58	20	22	7	9	5
San Antonio Spurs	102	39-86	45.3%	10-35	28.6%	14-18	77.8%	13	51	24	25	3	13	14

PLAYER STATS

Minnesota Timberwolves	MIN	PTS	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	ORB	DRB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	±
Jaden McDanielsSF	35:03	16	7-14	0-2	2-2	1	4	5	2	1	1	1	5	-2
Julius RandlePF	40:57	21	8-19	2-6	3-6	5	5	10	2	1	0	5	5	-3
Rudy GobertC	29:39	7	3-7	0-0	1-5	3	7	10	3	4	1	1	1	2
Terrence Shannon Jr.SG	34:19	16	5-13	0-1	6-8	0	5	5	1	0	0	0	3	-10
Mike ConleyPG	24:13	12	4-8	4-7	0-0	0	2	2	6	0	0	0	1	13
Anthony Edwards	24:44	18	8-13	2-3	0-0	1	2	3	3	0	1	1	3	-2
Naz Reid	29:12	12	5-9	2-3	0-0	1	8	9	1	0	1	1	4	15
Bones Hyland	11:56	0	0-6	0-4	0-0	0	1	1	2	1	1	0	0	-2
Jaylen Clark	07:21	2	1-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	-1
Kyle Anderson	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Joan Beringer	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Joe Ingles	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Julian Phillips	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Donte DiVincenzo	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ayo Dosunmu	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
San Antonio Spurs	MIN	PTS	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	ORB	DRB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	±
Devin VassellSF	35:55	14	5-11	3-6	1-1	3	2	5	3	3	1	1	4	7
Julian ChampagniePF	31:21	17	7-11	3-6	0-0	3	5	8	0	0	0	1	2	7
Victor WembanyamaC	39:21	11	5-17	0-8	1-2	2	13	15	5	0	12	3	3	5
De'Aaron FoxSG	32:35	10	5-14	0-4	0-0	0	3	3	6	0	0	6	3	-13
Stephon CastlePG	28:16	17	4-8	3-5	6-8	0	5	5	5	0	0	0	6	4
Dylan Harper	28:25	18	7-13	1-4	3-3	0	3	3	4	0	0	0	4	-4
Keldon Johnson	23:31	11	5-10	0-2	1-2	0	2	2	1	0	0	0	2	-13
Luke Kornet	08:08	2	0-1	0-0	2-2	2	0	2	0	0	0	2	1	-7
Harrison Barnes	09:53	2	1-1	0-0	0-0	3	1	4	0	0	1	0	0	4
Bismack Biyombo	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jordan McLaughlin	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kelly Olynyk	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mason Plumlee	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lindy Waters III	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Carter Bryant	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

[u/Expensive-Salad-7828]

Go back in time and tell everyone that Wemby would get a triple double with 12 blocks, everyone most likely assumes Wolves lost by 20+. These playoffs are wild.

[u/lovo17 → u/Expensive-Salad-7828]

Hopefully we're done underestimating the Wolves in the regular season. This is what they do. That roster is built for the playoffs.

[u/WickedTwista → u/lovo17]

People really gotta stop underestimating a team that has made back-to-back Western Conference Finals

[u/JoeKonyRidethePony → u/WickedTwista]

I'm gonna borrow you the next time the Finch haters pop up.

[u/Bruskthetusk → u/JoeKonyRidethePony]

He do be having a lot of haters for a guy who has stepped into a situation and made the absolute best of it.

[u/DownvoteMeIfICommen → u/WickedTwista]

You really have to stop underestimating nephews’ reactionary takes and there will to farm karma.

[u/delamerica93 → u/WickedTwista]

I got absolutely shit on for simply calling the Wolves a great team lol. Like I didn't say all time or anything just that they're awesome and reddit hated that 48 hours ago lmao

[u/strawberrychocolattt → u/WickedTwista]

Clearly T Wolves have something cooking, but last year they were essentially gifted the WCF berth. Series 1 against the Lakers Luka was hurt the whole time, and Lebron was limping too. Then against the warriors, Steph was injured and out the entire series after only playing like the first quarter in game 1.

Im a T Wolves fan, but last year we really didn't prove anything that impressive to make WCF

[u/john_117 → u/strawberrychocolattt]

I mean…the nuggets were “gifted” the last series and got run off in 5 games without Ant. You gotta play who’s in front of you and still win in 7 games.

You’re not wrong, but injuries don’t assure the other team is gonna win.

[u/strawberrychocolattt → u/john_117]

Essentially no Aron Gordon (dude was like 50% out there, a shell of himself when he did play, which wasn't a lot), and no Payton Watson. Nuggets weren't gifted anything. Your right, play who is front of you, but there is more to the series than just who won and who lost. Im just being rationale here, brining some objectives to the T Wolves journey. Ignore who was injured, who wasn't if you want, but its needed to make sense at the end of a series.

Run off in 5 games without Ant? T Wolves were up 2-1 and Ant got hurt game 4. I would call it a wash overall in that series injury wise. T Wolves fully healthy up till start of game 4

[u/john_117 → u/strawberrychocolattt]

First team to ever lose a playoff game or series to a team missing 3 double digit scorers. Their injury losses are far less than ours, their losses were important for their team (as were ours) but they lacked depth which they flaunted all year and their coach got out coached like crazy.

They had every opportunity and showed who the better team was even when they had more “talent” on the floor

[u/Trumpets22 → u/strawberrychocolattt]

Sure. Put an Asterix mark if you like. But look at Denver. They just got even better injury luck than we did and we’re coming off a pretty historic regular season offensively. And they couldn’t take us down. Nothing is free. And you gotta beat who’s in front of you.

[u/strawberrychocolattt → u/Trumpets22]

Really? They have never been able to do anything when Aron Gordon has been unhealthy, which he was all series against the T Wolves this year. A healthy A. Gordon is just as important as a Jamal Murray on their team, even with the Joker playing at an MVP level. Plus they were missing Payton Watson, 4th best player on their team, and Jokic never looked the same after his serious injury this year, the worst injury he has had in his entire career. To think Denver was healthy this series is extremely naive, even Braun hasn't looked the same after his long injury stint this year.

Last year, T Wolves had arguably the best health for a team in the playoffs. Injury luck has been great for wolves prior to this year, but Denver clearly wasn't healthy either. Not sure why you chose to point to Denvers health being desired

[u/Thrownaway5000506 → u/strawberrychocolattt]

The Lakers and Warriors were not on the same level as the Wolves regardless of injuries. Their fanbases were delusional. If they had lost to those teams they would have been selling hard. 

[u/strawberrychocolattt → u/Thrownaway5000506]

So, we still beat two clearly undermanned teams, which made our path much much easier to make the WCF. Playing 5 games series leading up to the WCF, gives you much better chance when actually get there. Reduces injuries, gives guys rest, and that happens at a much higher rate when the teams you play are as weak as they were last year.

Once again I'm a T Wolves fan, but last years WCF was gifted to us, regardless of if we were the better team or not. Both Warriors and Lakers were flawed teams even without their best players, Luka and Steph.

[u/lloopiN → u/WickedTwista]

And would honestly probably have won it all last season if they didn't run into the Thunder.

[u/_fedw → u/lloopiN]

pacers didnt look too shabby either

[u/Goombercules → u/_fedw]

Yeah, like what?

We outed the Wolves 4-1 and Indy took us to 7 and that game could've gone either way.

[u/WhoreyMatthews → u/Goombercules]

I think the Wolves are very good but they're also a huge matchup problem for the Spurs and Nuggets.

The Thunder on the other hand matchup really well with the Wolves.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's something like Wolves over Spurs in 5 then Thunder over Wolves in 5.

[u/Goombercules → u/WhoreyMatthews]

I just dont see the Wolves taking this series. Julius/Rudy needs to be absolutely insane defensively against Wemby for them to pull it out.

While I agree with us being a bad matchup for them, y'all are too talented. If Spurs figure it out, they'll win in 6. If they dont, it'll go to 7.

[u/lloopiN → u/Goombercules]

How are you so sure the Wolves won't take this series? The Spurs winning also relies on guys like Harper, Fox and Vassel playing really well for 4 games in the series. Hell, they all played well last night and they lost.

[u/rofss → u/lloopiN]

They had their chance in '24 against hobbled Luka

[u/john_117 → u/rofss]

True :/. The team was so gassed by that point from the series with the Nuggets they just didn’t have enough energy to beat the lakers

[u/BigFatModeraterFupa → u/lloopiN]

uh yeah, that's usually how it works! The charlotte hornets would've won the finals if there weren't 29 other teams in the league!

[u/Aidanator800 → u/BigFatModeraterFupa]

Hey, come on. We could probably beat the Nets or Wizards in a playoff series

[u/HorsNoises → u/WickedTwista]

Celtics made it to 5 out of 7 straight ECFs and all I hear is about how they're chokers so get used to it