Spurs rout Timberwolves 133-95, hand Minnesota its worst playoff loss

Minnesota’s brief grip on the series evaporated under a barrage of Spurs shotmaking, as San Antonio rolled to a 133-95 win and handed the Timberwolves the worst postseason defeat in franchise history. The 38-point loss turned a tight Western Conference semifinal into a harder question about whether Minnesota can absorb a full-game punch from an elite opponent and still keep its structure intact.

The Spurs answered Minnesota’s 104-102 Game 1 upset with pace, spacing and force. Victor Wembanyama finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds, Stephon Castle scored 21 points and De’Aaron Fox added 16 as San Antonio shot 50% from the field and 41% from 3-point range. By the time both teams emptied their benches with about 10 minutes left, the Spurs led 104-66, and the game was no longer in doubt.

The margin surpassed Minnesota’s previous worst playoff loss, a 30-point defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers on April 29, 2003. It also marked San Antonio’s highest-scoring playoff game since a 145-105 series-clinching win over Denver on May 4, 1983, a reminder that the Spurs’ ceiling rises quickly when Wembanyama controls the paint and the guards keep the ball moving.

Afterward, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch did not soften the message. “I just told them we got punked,” Finch said. Anthony Edwards, still working back from a hyperextended left knee, was limited off the bench again as Minnesota managed his minutes in his second game back. Edwards said the natural tendency for a team that steals Game 1 on the road is to get blown out in Game 2, and the second half bore that out as San Antonio kept widening the gap.

The loss landed as more than a one-night collapse because it followed a Game 1 that had briefly tilted the matchup Minnesota’s way. In that opener, Edwards scored 18 points in his return, Minnesota won 104-102, and Wembanyama’s 11 points, 15 rebounds and 12 blocks set the NBA postseason blocks record. Two nights later, the Spurs looked like the team with the sharper answers, and Minnesota looked like a roster still searching for a stable counter.

Games 3 and 4 are scheduled for Friday and Sunday in Minneapolis, where the Timberwolves now have to prove the blowout was a spike rather than the series revealing its shape.