Wemby Dominates Wolves in Game 3; Anthony Edwards Needs More Help

Victor Wembanyama was simply too dominant for the Timberwolves in Game 3.

San Antonio's 22-year-old superstar had 39 points on 13-for-18 shooting, along with 15 rebounds, and five blocks to lead the Spurs to a 115-108 victory and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

Wemby blocked and altered countless shots as Minnesota missed 12 straight field goals to start the game, and he had an offensive answer every time the Wolves threatened the Spurs' lead in the fourth quarter, when he scored 16 of his 39 points.

Mind-boggling first quarter

Minnesota did not make a shot until Rudy Gobert rolled in a layup with 5:08 left in the opening quarter, but after missing their first 12 shots, they made 8 of 11 to end the quarter and only trailed by one point, 23-22.

Edwards had 13 points, including back-to-back threes in the final 25 seconds, the second coming at the buzzer. All of that was incredible, but so too was the 16 times Minnesota attacked the paint. They had almost zero success in the lane when Wembanyma was on the floor. Here's the paint action play-by-play, with the plays when Wemby was taking a breather on the bench in italics.

• McDaniels: Wemby block
• Edwards: Wemby blocking foul
• Randle: Wemby block
• Edwards: Kicked to the corner to avoid Wemby, Conley bricked a 3
• McDaniels: Shot over Wemby, hit front iron
• Reid: Missed layup as Wemby closed
• McDaniels: Floater rimmed out; Wemby not involved
• Edwards: Missed layup, Gobert cleaned up the putback
• Reid: Missed layup, begged for a foul on Luke Kornet
• Dosunmu: Drive and kick to TJ Shannon, who missed the corner 3
• Gobert: Makes tough layup after a nice feed in traffic from Shannon
• Gobert: Easy bucket at the rim on another nice feed from Shannon
• Edwards: Grabbed a board on defense and sliced to the rim for a layup
• Edwards: Floater from 10 feet goes down for two
• Edwards: Fouled on a drive to the paint, hits two free throws
• Dosunmu: Layup attempt over Wemby doesn't go

Another obvious goaltending miss?

Wemby was credited with a block on Minnesota's second shot attempt of the game. The Minnesota bench could be seen hollering at the refs to call goaltending, and they were right. The replay clearly shows that McDaniel's floater had reached its peak and was coming down when Wemby swatted it.

Unreal shooting streaks

Minnesota took 49 shots in the first half, and the hot/cold streaks were very easy to identify. In fact, the Wolves started 1 of 15 before making 10 of the next 12 shots. Then they missed 13 of 14 shots, only to finish the half by making 5 of their last 8 attempts.

Another dust-up involving Castle

With 4:18 left in the third quarter, Stephon Castle and McDaniels had to be separated following a turnover on McDaniels that resulted in Dylan Harper falling backward and hitting the back of his head on McDaniels' knee. As the Spurs called a timeout to check on Harper, the scuffle between Castle and McDaniels ensued.

Both McDaniels and Castle were called for technical fouls.

Castle has been a bit of a villain through three games. He was also involved in a shoving match with Bones Hyland during Game 2.

Trading 3-pointers in the third quarter

There was a wild stretch from 7:41 to 6:01 in the third quarter as the Wolves and Spurs hit a combined eight shots, including six threes.

• 7:41 — Julian Champagnie 3
• 7:25 — Naz Reid 3
• 7:18 — De'Aaron Fox layup (and foul, missed free throw)
• 7:05 — Anthony Edwards floater
• 6:39 — Ayo Dosunmu 3
• 6:30 — Devin Vassell 3
• 6:19 — Jaden McDaniels 3
• 6:01 — De'Aaron Fox 3

Wemby's fourth-quarter answers

Shannon hit a three to cut the lead to six early in the quarter, and Wemby immediately responded with an easy two. On Minnesota's next possession, Dosunmu hit a three, only for Wemby to come right back down and bury a deep three.

When Reid hit a three to cut the deficit to 106-103, Wemby answered with a three on the other end for a 109-103 lead with 3:06 left in the game.

Minnesota needs more from McDaniels, Randle

Edwards played 40 minutes and led the Wolves with 32 points on 12-for-26 shooting (plus 14 rebounds and six assists), but Randle and McDaniels, who are supposed to be the No. 2 and No. 3 offensive options, had woeful shooting performances.

Randle made only three of 12 shots, with two of them dunks and one a layup. He also blew a couple of layups and finished with 12 points. That, after scoring only 12 points in a Game 2, is simply not good enough.

McDaniels shot 5-for-22 and scored 17 points after being held to 12 points while battling foul trouble in Game 2. Again, not even close to good enough in a series of this magnitude.

The only player who provided punch other than Edwards was Reid, who finished with 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting, including 4-for-8 from three. Reid added nine rebounds and five assists.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow