Anthony Edwards scored 16 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter and the Minnesota Timberwolves took advantage of Victor Wembanyama’s ejection in the second quarter to post a 114-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night in Minneapolis and tie the Western Conference second-round series at two games apiece.
Naz Reid contributed 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Minnesota. He also took an elbow from Wembanyama into his chin on the play in which the Spurs’ star was ejected.
Jaden McDaniels scored 14 points, Julius Randle scored 12 and Rudy Gobert had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Timberwolves. Ayo Dosunmu added 10 points for Minnesota.
De’Aaron Fox and reserve Dylan Harper scored 24 points apiece and Stephon Castle added 20 for the Spurs. Devin Vassell tallied 14 points for San Antonio. Wembanyama had four points, four rebounds and no blocks in 12-plus minutes.
Game 5 is Tuesday in San Antonio.
The Spurs trailed by seven before Harper made two free throws with 29.1 seconds left and Julian Champagnie hit two with 20.6 seconds remaining to bring San Antonio within 112-109.
Dosunmu answered with two free throws with 9.8 seconds left as Minnesota closed it out.
Earlier, Wembanyama grabbed a rebound and was trying to protect the ball from two Timberwolves when he turned and unleashed a vicious right elbow into the chin of Reid and was called for a foul with 8:39 left in the first half.
The officiating crew studied views of the play before upgrading the foul to a flagrant 2, which is an automatic ejection. Crew chief Zach Zarba said, “There was windup, impact and follow-through above the neck of an opponent.”
Minnesota led 60-56 at the break. Edwards scored 18 in the half while Castle led San Antonio with 14 first-half points.
Despite the loss of Wembanyama, the Spurs scored 20 of the first 28 points in the third quarter and led 76-68 after a basket by Vassell with 4:33 left in the period.
San Antonio’s Keldon Johnson drove for a hoop with 21.9 seconds remaining for an 84-80 advantage entering the final stanza.
Fox buried a 3-pointer to give San Antonio a 94-86 lead with 8:51 left in the contest before Edwards scored 12 points during the Timberwolves’ 14-5 run.
Edwards started the burst with a jumper and he soon scored five consecutive points on a short floater and a long straightaway 3-pointer to cut the Minnesota deficit to three with 7:10 remaining. He later canned two free throws with 5:51 left to bring the Timberwolves within 97-95 before drilling a 3-pointer 39 seconds later to give Minnesota a one-point edge.
Gobert later delivered a thunderous dunk to give the Timberwolves a 107-101 lead with 1:56 to play.
Minnesota shot 44.7% from the field, including 10 of 27 from 3-point range.
The Spurs made 47.7% of their attempts and hit just 6 of 26 from behind the arc.
–Field Level Media
