NBA Matchups: May 12

Minnesota Timberwolves at San Antonio Spurs

Team Totals: Wolves 104, Spurs 114.5

Injury Report: De’Aaron Fox (Q, ankle)

Wolves projected starters: Ayo Dosunmu, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert

Spurs projected starters: De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Victor Wembanyama

Finch quotes: Said they were physical and were able to stand them up on drives, said Ant got hot and it was a special performance, said he was trying to get to Naz at the three and it was tougher to do so with Randle in foul trouble, said they slipped a bit after Wemby’s ejection and they turned it over too much, said Naz Reid has played much better defense lately.  

Mitch quotes: Said he’s glad Naz is OK and Wemby has to protect himself some way (on the ejection), said Wemby gets pushed all game and he’s “getting hit on every play,” said it would be ridiculous to suspend Wemby.

Stats and notes:

*Victor Wembanyama will not be suspended for this one, putting the Spurs in a good position to get a lead back in this series. The Spurs have a +14.2 net rating in the Wemby minutes during this series, including their 96.0 D rating. In Game 4, the Wolves were able to get their rim frequency way up, which is obviously tied to Wemby being out. Minnesota hasn’t been able to convert at the basket all series, and the Wolves have kept them in the halfcourt all series, too. The Wolves were able to get a nice edge on the boards, while Anthony Edwards looked way more explosive. It’s going to be tough for the Wolves to put up a big number on offense. Offensively, the Spurs weren’t as dominant in transition with just 17 fast-break points in Game 4, and they had their worst shooting performance of the series. 

*Anthony Edwards put the game away in the fourth with 16 points over the 4Q minutes. He was much more aggressive in Game 4 with 12 shots on his 16 drives (15 points). In the previous three games, he had just 9.3 drives, 5.3 shots on drives, and 8.0 points. Wemby not being back there was a big part of the reason why Ant had so much success, and it should be much tougher for him here. The Spurs also put a lot of Devin Vassell on him, as they continue to put Stephon Castle on Julius Randle. Ant got to 40 minutes last game, and he’s been basically on rehab/recovery 24/7. I don’t feel great about him here.