Victor Wembanyama scored 27 points – 18 in a rousing first quarter – and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead the host San Antonio Spurs past the Minnesota Timberwolves 126-97 on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series.
Game 6 in the best-of-seven series is Friday in Minneapolis while Game 7 (if necessary) would be back in the Alamo City on Sunday.
Wembanyama returned to action after being ejected in the second quarter of an eventual 114-109 loss to the host Timberwolves in Game 4 on Sunday. He connected on an elbow to the face of Naz Reid and was ejected after officials reviewed the incident on replay to a flagrant 2 foul, which is an automatic ejection.
The Spurs led by as many as 18 points in the second quarter before going cold late and settling for a 12-point advantage at halftime. After Minnesota rallied to tie the game at 61-all four minutes into the third quarter, San Antonio ran off 30 of the final 42 points of the period to carry a 91-73 lead into the final 12 minutes.
The Spurs stoked the margin to 20 points early in the fourth. Minnesota answered with an 8-0 surge to pull to within 93-81 with 9:34 remaining but never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Keldon Johnson added 21 points off the bench for San Antonio, with De’Aaron Fox scoring 18, Stephon Castle hitting for 17 and Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper tallying 12 points each. Harper also grabbed 10 rebounds.
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 20 points. Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle had 17 points apiece, Ayo Dosunmu racked up 16 and Naz Reid finished with 12 points.
Wembanyama was on fire in the game’s early moments, scoring 16 of the Spurs’ first 24 points as San Antonio built a 24-9 lead at the 6:17 mark of the first period. The Timberwolves weathered the storm, with Reid’s driving layup with 23 seconds remaining trimming the deficit to 34-30 after 12 minutes of play. The Spurs ripped off the first nine points of the second quarter, capped by a three-point play by Castle, to stoke their advantage to 43-30.
San Antonio built its margin to 58-40 after a Wembanyama alley-oop dunk with 3:24 left in the period but then missed its final eight shots of the quarter, allowing Minnesota to pull to within 59-47 at the break.
Wembanyama had a double-double in the first half alone, scoring 21 points and collecting 11 boards. Fox contributed 12 points for San Antonio before halftime.
Dosunmu’s nine points paced the Timberwolves’ offense in the first half while Reid and Edwards added eight points each. Minnesota continued its charge at the start of the third quarter, tying the game at 61-61 at the 7:51 mark when Dosunmu’s layup culminated a 14-2 run.