Wolves on the Brink of Elimination After Spurs' Relentless Runs in Game 5

Minnesota has been pushed to the brink of elimination after getting run out of San Antonio in Game 5 on Tuesday night. The Spurs' 126-97 victory gives them a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, putting the Wolves in a must-win situation when Game 6 is played in Minneapolis on Friday night.

Every time the Timberwolves put up a fight, the Spurs slammed the door with a ferocious run to keep Minnesota looking up at a double-digit deficit. Let's break it down...

Backbreaking San Antonio runs

As you'll see as we dissect the loss further down in the story, the Spurs used three big runs to squash Minnesota's momentum. They went on a 21-4 run in the first quarter, a 24-10 spurt in the second quarter, and a 19-6 run to end the third quarter. As if that wasn't enough, they even went on a 26-7 run in the fourth quarter.

Add 'em all up, and the Spurs outscored the Wolves 90-27 in four dominant stretches

Awful start to the game

After a quick 5-3 lead, the Wolves got smoked over the next five minutes as the Spurs took a 24-9 lead with 6:17 left in the opening frame. The Wolves clawed back to only trail 34-30 by the end of the first quarter, but they had to burn a ton of energy to get back into the game.

Horrible 2nd quarter

San Antonio scored the first nine points of the second quarter, and they pushed their lead up to 18 points when Wembanyama caught a lob from De'Aaron Fox for an easy slam and a 58-40 lead. The Spurs went cold over the final 3:24 of the quarter, which allowed Minnesota to cut the deficit to 12 at the half.

Big comeback followed by meltdown in 3rd quarter

Minnesota trailed by 12 points, 59-47, at the half, only to come out roaring in the third quarter. They actually tied the game 61-61 with a 14-2 run in the first 4:09 of the third, but the momentum was short-lived as the Spurs punched back. Hard.

San Antonio turned a 72-67 lead with 4:21 to play in the quarter into a 91-73 lead going into the fourth quarter. The 19-6 run to close the quarter was devastating, and the third monster rally to silence Minnesota after doing the same in the first and second quarters.

Where's Julius Randle?

Randle has been borderline unplayable this series, and Game 5 saw him eliminate the turnovers that plagued him in Game 4, but he still couldn't buy a bucket. The veteran power forward finished with 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting, though he was 2-for-12 until getting some easy baskets in the fourth quarter.

Randle's game log since putting up 21 points in Game 1 has been ugly.

Game 2: 12 points (4-10 shooting), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 turnovers
Game 3: 12 points (3-12 shooting), 6 rebounds, 0 assists, 2 turnovers
Game 4: 12 points (5-12 shooting), 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 turnovers
Game 5: 17 points (6-17 shooting), 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 0 turnovers

Rudy Gobert's rough night

Gobert played with hands of stone, fumbling nearly every ball that was passed to him, and getting outmuscled by smaller players in the paint. Chris Finch played him only 23 minutes, and he finished with four points and five rebounds.

NBC's Reggie Miller said near the end of the game that Minnesota should replace Gobert with Naz Reid in the starting lineup, which would help pull Wembanyama away from the basket and provide Minnesota's offense with more spacing and firepower.

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