The game turned on a savage elbow from a previously mild-mannered giant, who melodramatically transformed into a heel, like a script out of WrestleMania.
Victor Wembanyama spotted Naz Reid out of the corner of his eye, pursed his lips, planted his legs and whipped his torso so that his right elbow caught Naz flush where the neck joins the lower jaw. Naz spun and crumpled to the floor. Coldcocked.
It was a textbook demonstration on how to be ejected from the game. As crew chief Zach Zarba (currently the best referee in the NBA) explained it after reviewing the video, “There is windup, impact and follow-through above the neck of an opponent. It is unnecessary and excessive contact by Wembanyama and meets all the criteria and has been upgraded to a flagrant foul penalty two.”
At the time it happened, with 8:39 left to play in the second quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves had managed a two-point lead over Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs, 38 to 36. Trailing two games to one in a best-of-seven series, it was vital that they triumph on their home court in Game Four. Wemby’s uncharacteristic eruption and ejection greatly enhanced the odds of that happening.
Unanimously voted the league’s Defensive Player of the Year this season, Wemby is at least four inches above seven-feet tall, with appendages that are preternatural in their coordination and elasticity. Before he flattened Naz, the Wolves had converted merely a third of their shots (9-for-27) in 12:29 he had played, compared with half their shots (4-for-8) in the 2:52 he was on the sidelines.
Furthermore, Wemby owns the painted area near the basket, compelling opponents to try and beat the Spurs with three-pointers, which is why the team supplements him with a bevy of rugged guards and wing players to patrol the perimeter. The Wolves took 27 two-pointers and 13 three-pointers when he was in the game up until the time he was ejected. During that brief span he had rested, the ratio was seven two-pointers and just a single three-point attempt.
Wemby’s ejection indisputably tilted the game in the Wolves favor, but Minnesota’s 114-109 victory wasn’t secured until the final minute. Just as the Wolves not only survived but thrived through a thrilling Game Four win in the first round against Denver after losing Donte DiVicenzo and then Anthony Edwards to injury, the Spurs revealed the mettle of a roster that had won 62 games during the regular season, including 12 of the 18 games Wemby was out due to rest or injury.
In the first eight or nine minutes of the second half, they flipped a four-point deficit into an eight-point lead via a 22-10 run. Backup center Luke Kornet ably protected the rim and the staunch guards sealed the perimeter and generated turnovers. The Wolves were 0-for-3 from long range and just 4-for-15 from inside the arc – the four buckets they did convert were all contested midrange shots.
Related: The Timberwolves are huge underdogs against the San Antonio Spurs. But they’re not afraid – nor should they be.
“I thought we let our minds slip more than anything else,” coach Chris Finch said after the game. “We had to get dialed in playing smarter basketball. We turned it over a bunch (five times in that third quarter span) – that’s what flipped the game at that time.”
The Spurs tenaciously held the lead into the fourth quarter. Then, for the first time in nearly two months, Anthony Edwards rose up on his damaged knees against double and triple coverage, grabbed the game by the throat and threw it into his deep bag of clutch scoring prowess.
The score was 86-80 Spurs when Ant nailed a contested pullup jumper from the right slot with 11:25 left to play in the game. Exactly nine minutes of clock time later it was 105-101 Wolves after he grabbed a long rebound off a Naz Reid shot and dribbled into the teeth of the defense for a floater at the rim. In between were a pair of stop-on-a-dime treys where he suddenly rose over the crowd of defenders and singed the twine from great distance, another efficient pullup splash, and a fadeaway manufactured from a feint to the hoop and a 360-degree turn that had Reggie Miller gush on the air, “My goodness, what a move!”
Sixteen fourth-quarter points gave him 36 for the game. Less than a week earlier, we all were marveling over Ant’s speedy recuperation – returning to action nine days after suffering a simultaneous bone bruise and hyperextension that was supposed to sideline him for multiple weeks. Now here he was eclipsing 40-minutes played for the second straight game, putting the team on his back in a do-or-dire situation.
“Awesome. He’s special,” Finch said. “He got to his stuff quick and clean, figured out how to get separation and that was all that he needs. That’s who he is – he’s special. Especially with what he’s been through over the last month and a half.” (Beginning when Ant injured his other knee and painfully tried to play through it.)
Finch and the Wolves unveiled the team’s other secret weapon as they persisted through to victory in the fourth quarter: The Big People Lineup. It features Gobert at center and power forwards Julius Randle and Naz completing the frontcourt. In the backcourt, large combo forward Jaden McDaniels, and Ant.
Gobert, Randle and Naz have all functioned as centers for the Wolves at various points over the last couple of years and their collective blend of skills and weaknesses requires restraint. But that trio is the key to the gambit and under certain circumstances they can do damage.
Finch was very judicious with it during the regular season. Lineup data shows Rudy, Randle and Naz sharing the court for only 56 minutes in parts of 16 games. But they were potent – a plus-31 in those minutes, during which they scored 119.1 points per 100 possessions while allowing 100 points for a glorious net rating of +19.1.
During the playoffs, Finch has still been surgical but says that Naz’s ability to guard wings and other smaller frontcourt personnel has him increasingly attracted to short-but-sweet immersions in lineups with a point guard and led but the large three. He has gone to it a total of 26 minutes over six games during this postseason. During that time, the Wolves have outscored their opponents 68-46, with a (small sample size) net rating of +40: 123.6 points scored per 100 possessions and 83.6 points allowed per 100 possessions.
Related: Timberwolves get a split – and that’s it – falling in blowout loss to San Antonio Spurs in Game 2
With 3:58 to play and the Wolves up a single point, 100-99, in Game Four, Finch subbed in Gobert for Terrence Shannon Jr., enacting the full quintet of the Big People Lineup mentioned earlier.
“I wanted to try to get to that lineup in Game Three, but Julius in foul trouble kind of hurt (that plan),” Finch noted after Game Four. “Tonight I was a little gun-shy earlier on against some of their smaller lineups, (but) those were the guys playing best in the game and I needed to get them out there.”
Over the next two minutes, Naz and Randle both dribbled into the paint, drawing multiple defenders. Each made the interior dish to Gobert, who got an And-1 dunk off Naz’s feed and an uncontested dunk cutting from the baseline as Randle hit him in stride while dribbling from the other direction. That made the score 107-101 with less than two minutes to play – precious breathing room at the height of crunch time.
After an Ant turnover followed by his fifth foul, Finch said “we needed somebody to handle (the ball) next to Ant when we were facing that kind of pressure, so I went back to Ayo,” putting Rudy back on the bench.
Nevertheless, it is a valuable weapon, particularly when Minnesota’s classic space-and-pace generation is diminished due to the loss of DiVincenzo, the recent injuries and relative inconsistencies of Ayo and the fact that Finch has lost confidence in Bones Hyland.
Wolves versus Spurs has now been reduced to a best two-out-of-three series, with Game Five and (if necessary) Seven in San Antonio Tuesday and, perhaps, Sunday, and Game Six at Target Center on Friday. As of Monday afternoon, a ruling on whether Wemby will face further disciplinary action, which could include a one-game suspension, has not been revealed, although the expectation here is that the NBA will appropriately shy away from such a harsh punishment to a first-time offender with so much riding on the outcome of Game Five.
The Spurs will be, and should be, favored to advance. But if the Wolves manage to win one of the next two games, their advantage in playoff experience will be magnified by a Game Seven. Minnesota has been there – has overcome a huge fourth quarter deficit to beat the Nuggets on the road two years ago in a Game Seven. It is another level of intensity that takes participation to fully absorb and internalize.
All season long the Wolves have trumpeted their continuity, and have been mocked for continually failing to deliver on its supposed benefits. Well, as the saying goes, better late than never. Much better.
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