Spurs, 139, Timberwolves 109: That’s All Folks

And just like that, it’s over.

The Minnesota Timberwolves came into Game 6 of their Western Conference Semifinal series against the San Antonio Spurs to replicate their series from two years ago against the Denver Nuggets and force Game 7. Instead, they repeated a different kind of history.

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For the third straight year, the Timberwolves’ season ends with a blowout. Two years ago, it was a 21-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Last season, they lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 30 points. Tonight, it was 30 points at the hand of the Spurs.

It was clear right from the opening tip that the Wolves were in trouble. Amid countless defensive miscommunications and inept offensive possessions, the Wolves fell behind by 29 points early in the second quarter in a game they needed to win to keep their season alive.

Minnesota did put together a 34-18 run to close the first half and cut the San Antonio lead to 13 points, but the success was short-lived as the Spurs resumed drubbing the Wolves coming out of halftime, going up by as many as 28 points in the third quarter.

The Wolves would fall by a final score of 139-109. Anthony Edwards finished the game with 24 points on 9-26 shooting. Rudy Gobert didn’t score a single point, missing all four of his shots. Julius Randle wrapped up his awful second-round performance playing less than 24 minutes while scoring just three points on 1-8 shooting.

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The habits a team has during the regular season will always show up during the playoffs. The Wolves, by their own admission, didn’t take the regular season seriously, and it’s shown up in this series. When they needed to make adjustments, they couldn’t.

The Wolves did “flip the switch” and were fantastic against the Nuggets, and if they had drawn a different matchup or been in the Eastern Conference, they could have made it to the Conference Finals or NBA Finals.

To win 4 straight playoff series, though, you have to be able to solve all the different matchups thrown your way and play with consistency from night to night and series to series. You can’t pick up that mentality during the playoffs; it…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/spurs-139-timberwolves-109-folks-041524350.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-16 04:15:00

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