Game Thread Playoffs Round 2, Game 1: Spurs vs Timberwolves (0-0) (Mon 05/04/2026) [8:30 CDT]

[spursistan]

If the Spurs lose game two they're getting swept imo.

This team has heart not like the soft ass Nuggets. It's gonna come down to our offense making just enough shots because the defense has been constant throughout playoffs and it's most certainly two tiers above what the Wolves have seen in the first round. It's looking like a long slugfest series either way.

 

[BigTimeBum]

I'm closing in on hopping on the "trade Fox for frontcourt help" bandwagon

Come on, Fox ...

 

[Ice009]

Spurs in 6 requires 4 wins from the next 5 games, won't say impossible but highly doubt that against this strong and veteran Wolves team. Before the series I had Spurs in 5/6 depending on Edwards early availability but nobody imagined he'd be back in Game 1. I'm gonna say Spurs in 7, Game 2 win is a must.
I'm confident we will find the necessary adjustments to make on offense and defense, I think Gobert will be played off the court because Minnesota will want to stretch the floor and keep Wemby away from the paint and they can't do that with Gobert on the floor, and the Spurs will find the necessary moves to defend this adjustment. Wemby probably will need to be on Shannon/McDaniels and let them shoot away. Meanwhile Minnesota's interior defense should take a big hit if Gobert can't play big minutes and the Spurs will have to take advantage of that with Wemby, Castle, Fox, Harper making plays to the hoop to get easy buckets.

I actually thought there was a chance he'd be back in game 1 or 2, and that the Wolves were bullshitting the timeline. If he was out for the series or not likely to return anytime soon, I doubt they would have played with the same energy they did against Denver in game 6. They would have been more dejected IMO. I think they had an idea he might be back sooner, so that gave them an energy boost to win game 6 against Denver IMO.

Anyway, the Spurs will have to win one road game in Minnesota. The Nuggets didn't really come close to winning games 3 and 4 and then they still lost against a severely shorthanded Wolves team in game 6. Spurs have to win all their home games and win one of these next two in Minnesota. I don't want to go down 3-1 like Denver did. Spurs really needed to win game 1 to put them on the back foot. Freaking giving them game 1 is not the way to start the series against a team like this. Edwards could also get healthier as the series goes on. Spurs could get lucky and his knee gets worse and he has to sit a game or two, but I don't want to win that way anyway, so I hope that doesn't happen.

 

[Ice009]

It's why Pop was garbage the second Duncan retired.

Darn. He went in on the coaches and coaching.
"Popafuck's pupil, just as much a dumbass as Gregg."

 

[SouthernFried]

We need to find Wemby inside like we were against Portland. Castle Fox Harper need to find ways to get Wemby going under the rim for easy buckets and alleyoops. He shouldn’t have to run from the 3 pt line and dunk to get his buckets. It’s on Wemby also to be aggressive in the paint and call for the ball and stop shooting weak 3s when his shot isn’t falling. He needs to make good runs and free himself or his teammates

This is what a good coach would do. This is why you hire good coaches. Mitch has never shown that he is even a mediocre coach to me. Basically, from what I have seen...he's not a coach at all.

 

[spursistan]

It's why Pop was garbage the second Duncan retired.

Keldon is a playoffs pumpkin, change my mind lebowen! He is, like Draymond says, an 82-game player and not a 16-game player.

 

[spursparker9]

It's why Pop was garbage the second Duncan retired.

the comments: This video would be on the Tpups if Champ hit that 3

 

[Rocalcio]

Yeah I think you may be right about a bunch of newbie bandwagoners who don't understand the NBA playoff roller coaster, maybe French fans?

I welcome them all of course.

Many French fans were already supporting the Spurs during Tony's presence here, as far as I'm concerned I started when DRob was drafted.

 

[amans]

I’m conflicted all around because:

1. I like a timeout. A good team takes a time out
2. I feel like we win in OT, I take a well drawn up play for 2
3. We are so young and honestly looked lost when we got the board
4. We are also a terrible out of timeout team. We never have a well drawn up play that’s also well executed
5. We actually ended up with a descent look anyway
6. Julz earned that shot
7. Nobody else was making shots anyway so high chance whoever gets the drawn up play misses

All these things are true tbh. I’m ok with the outcome and julz getting the shot for it

Going to OT without Castle, but with Mcdaniels and Randle on 5 fouls... I like my chances. I also would have preferred a 2 with a timeout maybe you get Wemby under the rim or a close shot nobody can block.

 

[Sparco41]

They’re clearly a team that turns it on in the playoffs. But Edwards also missed some games towards the end of the year when they were trending up to finish in the top 4.

Yep. Culture and discipline helped this Spurs team exceed expectations during the regular season. But they may not have an extra gear for the playoffs like some teams. Yet I feared the inexperienced guys would underperform, rather than Fox and Wemby, and the opposite was true for the most part.

 

[siraulo22]

this twolves team is tough man

but they aint beating okc especially with Ant not 100%

i can accept everything that happened in the game but zombie Conley going, f off

season on the line in game 2, lets see if this team responds, this is real adversity now they're facing

 

[siraulo22]

i cant believe how Randles completely transformed his game and impact into winning basketball when he got to Minnesota

he still makes some dumb plays every now and then but he was absolutely terrible and used to disappear with the knicks in the playoffs

 

[PhantomDashCam]

Great win for the Wolves. We probably didn’t deserve to be as close as we were in the endgame tbh.
That’s what makes this team so good. They kept fighting and will continue to do so.

The Carter Bryant injury may of been a huge difference maker in regards to relieving ball pressure of the Gs bringing up the court. Big factor in GM 3 VS the Blazers.

I felt there were so many minor adjustments this team could make for game 2 that would make a huge difference.

There were times when the Spurs were too busy running the play rather than the match up that was available
eg. - Conley guarding Harper on the weak side in the 4th at the arc, ignored

Pumped to see the Spurs response in GM 2. Keep the faith.

 

[tearsofmorningdew]

i cant believe how Randles completely transformed his game and impact into winning basketball when he got to Minnesota

he still makes some dumb plays every now and then but he was absolutely terrible and used to disappear with the knicks in the playoffs

He’ll do it next round if they advance. Loser archetype

 

[tearsofmorningdew]

I just smashed my TV in front of 30 guests at my party because of the game. My wife just took our crying kids and said they’re all spending the week at a hotel. This team has ruined my life and my party. I can’t handle this anymore. Goodbye Spurs. I am no longer a fan.

 

[kxs783]

I think one thing that will help in this series is taking the ball out of Castle's hand and letting Fox bring the ball up court. McDaniels is going to disrupt the offense too much with his pressure on Castle. This is where Castle not being a true PG is going to show up in this series. He just doesn't have clean enough handles against McDainels.

As bad and terrible as he played, it looks like Fox will be the key to winning this series. He has to beat his matchup against Conley when he's out there. Harper would be great for this role but you have to keep him coming off the bench for firepower because Keldon is going to struggle against a taller Reid and bigger, more skilled, Randle. Both have the size and foot speed to keep up with him.

Also Bryant would be the perfect need in this series. He's the only one who will have the size and foot speed to keep up with Ant. Of course he won't stop him but he can match Ant on his first step, which got Ant many open drives to the basket. Carter's energy, aggressiveness and size will be badly needed in this series if his foot can hold up.

Vassell coming off that screen for a mid range middy looks like another player that can get us buckets when the offense goes dead. I think he's another important key to this series. We played terrible at the end of the day but missing wide open shots will make you look that way.

I fully expect a nice bounce back game in game 2.

 

[scott]

It took me a while to figure out who this Daniels guy everyone is talking about was… oh, McDaniels. Respect this man’s Scottish heritage y’all

 

[kxs783]

It took me a while to figure out who this Daniels guy everyone is talking about was… oh, McDaniels. Respect this man’s Scottish heritage y’all

My bad. Let me go add Mc on lol

 

[scott]

My bad. Let me go add Mc on lol

I’m just messing with ya… wanted to make the Scottish joke mostly

 

[kxs783]

I’m just messing with ya… wanted to make the Scottish joke mostly

You're good. I didn't take offense to it at all. I'm here to share my opinion and have a good time. Not to search for people to be angry with lol

 

[Quentin_Compson]

One aspect where the Wolves' individual and collective playoff experience gave them an edge over the Spurs was the often rather wild, almost frantic nature of the game. The Wolves handled that well, the Spurs didn't.
It's tough to win a close game when your two best offensive players combine for 10-31 from the floor. Overall, I didn't mind most of the threes our guys were taking (minus a couple of off the dribble/step back ones from Fox and Wemby) - this team can and will hit them at a higher clip in most games than the 28% we got in this game. That being said, I often didn't like the offensive process, especially concerning how Wemby was used offensively. To be fair, I think a lot of that was on him - settling for too many threes when his shooting touch clearly wasn't there this game, calling for the ball much, much too far away from the basket. He was just a bit too hectic and out of control, even defensively at times, although he was mostly amazing on that end, of course.
Getting not just Wemby's offense, but the overall team offense rolling better and more smoothly will be something I hope the coaching staff and the players (mostly Wemby and Fox as they were the main culprits in that regard) can figure out before Game 2.

The last possession was a bit of a fuck-up between Wemby, Harper, and Mitch not calling for a timeout. Still, Champ got an at least solid look that reasonably might have won the game. I think some of the self-inflicted offensive woes should be rather easily fixable, and I fully expect Wemby and Fox to play better in Game 2.

 

[OK Computer]

I'm closing in on hopping on the "trade Fox for frontcourt help" bandwagon

Come on, Fox ...

How does anybody arrive to the conclusion that we need frontcourt help after last night’s game? The Spurs weren’t abused by any of the Twolves bigs. They beat themselves last night.

 

[Gervin44Silas13]

Useless 3's not aggressive at the basket I'm surprised the way they played they didn't get blown out!

 

[kxs783]

How does anybody arrive to the conclusion that we need frontcourt help after last night’s game? The Spurs weren’t abused by any of the Twolves bigs. They beat themselves last night.

The Spurs did beat themselves but saying we don't need frontcourt help is far out there. Randle is a big, he had 21 and 10 rebs. Reid is a big. He had 9 rebs and blocked 2 or 3 shots against our smaller guys because of his length. We absolutely need frontcourt help. When Wemby's out, their team went straight to the paint to score.

 

[Gervin44Silas13]

If the Spurs shoot 37+% from 3 in each of the games it's a sweep. This is a very bad matchup for Minnesota.

Their offense is predicated on attacking the rim. That's how they beat Denver as Denver put up zero rim resistance. Without DiVicenzo and Edward's shooting they are left attacking the rim against the best rim defense in the world by far.

Gobert being a zero on offense leaves Wemby right in the paint to be the goalie.

Spurs have the guard advantage.

Cold shooting and stupid mistakes are what can derail the Spurs against them. That's why shooting will be the #1 critical stat. If they can't sag off the guards and make Gobert have to guard the 3 it's over

Gobert is scared of Wemby...he played like a coward......... Wemby should have imposed his will instead of taking stupid threes!