The San Antonio Spurs weren’t flustered by their Game One defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves and they proved why Wednesday night with a brilliant performance to level their Western Conference semi-final.
The Spurs won 133-95 with Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox instrumental. Wembanyama finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds and Fox chipped in with 16 points to help their side as they now prepare to head to Minnesota with the momentum.
Recalling a conversation they had in the locker room after the Game One defeat, Fox told ESPN: “We talked about how we were in a good place. We played like s— and we lost [Game 1] by two.”
Wembanyama added: “As a team, we talk a lot whether it’s keeping everything tight or [giving] extra motivation to each other. There’s always a bunch of dynamics going on. But we were trying to keep the positivity.”
The impact was clear with San Antonio leading by 24 points at the half and 35 by the end of the third quarter.
“We respond well to adversity,” said Stephon Castle, who scored a team-high 21 points. “We’ve done that all year. I don’t think we were too shellshocked coming out of Game One. We knew why we lost Game One and addressed it right away. That’s what carried us tonight.”
We came out cool, admits Minnesota star Edwards
It was a chastening night for Minnesota who failed back up the intensity they showed on Monday night.
“We came out cool,” Anthony Edwards said. “Look what happened. My momma used to tell me that a hard head make a soft ass. That’s what happened tonight.
“They won by 40. I tip my hat to those guys. They came out, they played hard, they were the more desperate team, they wanted it. We’ll see where it goes from here.”
The Timberwolves were swamped all night and ended up going down blind alleys when in possession.
“Got to get off of it,” coach Chris Finch said. “Got to use it as a catalyst for ball movement, what it should be. I thought we dribbled to tough spots. I thought we were late getting off it. I thought our spacing around it wasn’t really good.”
The only positive for the Timberwolves on a miserable night was the fact Edwards got another 24 minutes under his belt as he works his way back from a hyperextended knee and bone bruise.
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