Victor Wembanyama made a historic defensive stand on Monday night to kick off the Western Conference semifinals.
But remarkably, it wasn’t enough to lead the San Antonio Spurs to an easy win.
The Minnesota Timberwolves surged ahead in the final minutes on Monday night at the Frost Bank Center to grab a 104-102 win over the Spurs in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.
Wembanyama set the NBA’s postseason single-game blocks record in the contest. The French star had 12 blocks in the loss for the Spurs, breaking a mark that had only been set three other times in league history. Wembanyama needed just three quarters to match that record, too.
He then came up with an 11th block to break the record minutes into the fourth quarter, stuffing Anthony Edwards at the rim.
Andrew Bynum, with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012, was the last player to record double-digit blocks in a playoff game. Hakeem Alajuwon and Mark Eaton are the other two.
Though now, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year stands alone atop that list. And it was only the sixth playoff game of his career.
But even with that, the Spurs now sit in a 1-0 hole.
Victor Wembanyama matches blocks record through 3 quarters
Edwards returned on Monday night after missing nine days due to a bone bruise in his left knee, which he first went down with during Game 4 of the Timberwolves’ series with the Denver Nuggets. Edwards played on a minutes restriction and came off the bench, but looked like his old self.
After a quick foul right away, he immediately made an impact. Edwards helped spark a big 12-2 burst to keep the Timberwolves out in front just barely in the opening quarter, which included burying a huge 3-pointer and then immediately letting the Spurs bench know about it.
But the Spurs never went away, and the two teams went into halftime tied up looking very level. Wembanyama had seven blocks at the break, too. Two of those came on the Timberwolves’ first two offensive possessions of the game, and two more came when he blocked Julius Randle consecutively down low to force a shot clock violation midway through the second quarter.
Though Wembanyama shined defensively, he had just six points and went 0-of-5 from the 3-point line in the first 24 minutes.
Wembanyama opened the second half with a quick left-handed dunk right through Rudy Gobert, but both teams kept going back and forth the entire third quarter. The Spurs only took a three-point lead into the final period after a wild buzzer-beater floater from KeldonJohnson.
At that point, Wembanyama had matched the league’s single-game playoff block record. That was also the most in Spurs’ franchise history.
Then just minutes into the fourth quarter, Wembanyama blocked Edwards at the rim for his 11th block to set the record. That set up a layup from De’Aaron Fox on the other end, too, which put the Spurs up by three at the time.
But that block sparked something in the Timberwolves. They rattled off a 14-2 burst, capped by a Mike Conley 3-pointer from the corner, to suddenly grab a nine-point lead — their largest of the game up until that point. The Spurs, and Wembanyama, looked flustered.
While Julian Champagnie had a good look at a game-winner, he was just off the mark. The Timberwolves, even with a Wembanyama that was nearly impossible to get around, escaped with the two-point win.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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