{"id":787972,"date":"2026-05-11T04:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T04:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/787972\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T04:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T04:08:18","slug":"edwards-guides-the-timberwolves-past-the-spurs-114-109-to-tie-the-series-after-wembanyamas-ejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/787972\/","title":{"rendered":"Edwards guides the Timberwolves past the Spurs 114-109 to tie the series after Wembanyama&#8217;s ejection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>MINNEAPOLIS<\/strong> \u2013 Anthony Edwards had 16 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter to help the Minnesota Timberwolves even their second-round <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA playoff series<\/a> against the San Antonio Spurs with a 114-109 victory, following the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nba-playoffs-spurs-timberwolves-wembanyama-ejected-34edaeeed1c10e43803d7b3c30eada74\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stunning ejection<\/a> of star Victor Wembanyama early in the second quarter of Game 4 on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Naz Reid took the fateful elbow to the neck from a frustrated Wembanyama and finished with 15 points and nine rebounds to help the Timberwolves finish strong after some shaky stretches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cPain is weakness in the body,\u201d Reid said. \u201cThat\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Edwards hit a 27-footer to bring the Wolves within 94-91, turning to shout at the crowd for some help down the stretch as the Spurs. His catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the wing with 5:12 left put them up 98-97, their first lead since midway through the third quarter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Then the big men went to work without Wembanyama patrolling the paint. Rudy Gobert, who had 11 points and 13 rebounds, converted a three-point play with 3:02 left off a high-low feed from Reid and later threw down a dunk for a 107-101 lead with 1:56 to go after a slick pass from Julius Randle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Reid\u2019s follow shot with 40 seconds left gave the Wolves a seven-point lead, before Dylan Harper had a rebound, a drawn foul, a steal, and two free throws to help the Spurs pull within three. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">After <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NBA\/status\/2053661378590683418\" rel=\"nofollow\">managing to corral a full-court baseball toss<\/a> from inbound passer Jaden McDaniels as De&#8217;Aaron Fox undercut his leaping catch and caused a loose ball, Ayo Dosunmu drew a foul and sank two free throws with 9.8 seconds left to put the game out of reach and tie the series at two games apiece.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">San Antonio hosts Game 5 on Tuesday, with Wembanyama\u2019s status to be determined by the league following the Flagrant 2 foul call and automatic ejection he was levied for the excessive contact to Reid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Harper and Fox each scored 24 points and Stephon Castle added 20 as the Spurs guards unflinchingly took the baton from their 7-foot-4 superstar and turned the rest of the night into a mid-range clinic with an array of pull-up jumpers in and around the paint.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cJust trying to be what the team needed me to be,\u201d said Harper, the second overall pick in the NBA draft last year. \u201cI think I did OK. Obviously the main goal is to win. We didn&#8217;t get that done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The crowd at Target Center went wild when <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nba-playoffs-spurs-timberwolves-512819c5abb4cd6cea30ce18f8165589\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wembanyama<\/a> walked off the floor with Minnesota leading by two, but the Wolves never fully took advantage of the gift created by his absence. They&#8217;ve long had a tendency of losing their edge, particularly defensively, when an opponent&#8217;s star player is missing. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWhen every team is missing their best player, everybody plays free. They get more shots, more confident,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cSo I think it was a lot harder on us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">After committing six turnovers in a 20-point third quarter, the Wolves found themselves in another eight-point hole early in the fourth following Fox&#8217;s 3-pointer before delivering another clutch finish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe have a resilient group of guys. No matter the circumstances, we are going to keep fighting and give everything we have and keep trusting one another,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cJust making the right play. That\u2019s who we are. We might not be always consistent with that, but I feel like when it matters, we raise our level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">AP NBA: <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2013 Anthony Edwards had 16 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter to help the Minnesota&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":787973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,8613,42764,7200,12549,31303,27847,17662,7202,7203,62,12551,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,4714],"class_list":{"0":"post-787972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-anthony-edwards","10":"tag-ayo-dosunmu","11":"tag-deaaron-fox","12":"tag-dylan-harper","13":"tag-julius-randle","14":"tag-naz-reid","15":"tag-rudy-gobert","16":"tag-san-antonio","17":"tag-sanantonio","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-stephon-castle","20":"tag-texas","21":"tag-tx","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa","28":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116553980717013132","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}