The report says Anthony Edwards walked over to the San Antonio Spurs bench with eight minutes remaining in Minnesota’s 139-109 elimination loss, exchanging hugs, handshakes and daps in a midgame acknowledgment of the opponent. Edwards said the gesture was meant to acknowledge what he called the superior team while he was still on the court: “I mean, I just tip my hat to them. They’re just the better team. I mean at that point, you ain’t going back in, so you’re just trying to give them their respect.”
The defeat marked the third consecutive playoff exit for the Timberwolves in elimination games, all decided by 20 points or more, the report says. The team lost 124-103 to the Dallas Mavericks in the fifth game of the Western Conference finals in 2024 and fell 124-94 to the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, in Game 5 of last season’s conference finals, per the report.
The report says Minnesota faced real challenges in the series. Edwards rushed back from a knee injury suffered during the first round to be available for the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals and “never played at 100%,” the report says. Coach Chris Finch praised Edwards’ effort, saying the guard “wasn’t supposed to even be there until the middle of the series.” The report also notes Ayo Dosunmu missed the opening game with a lower-leg injury and Donte DiVincenzo suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in the Denver series, which Edwards said complicated the Wolves’ offense. “He spreads the floor like no other,” Edwards said of DiVincenzo. “I would love to have Donte in my slot and just throwing it to him the entire time and shoot 20 3s, but he got hurt last series, so we tried to figure it out.”
The Spurs won by 30 despite Victor Wembanyama having what the report called a modest game. Stephon Castle scored 32 points and the supporting cast produced a 20-0 run in the second quarter that appeared to put the game out of reach. Minnesota cut the deficit to 12 near the end of the first half, but the starters finished 18-for-59 from the field, a mark the report says proved too difficult to overcome.
The report says attention in Minneapolis will now shift to the offseason and whether Edwards believes he has enough to win a championship against a loaded Western Conference. The conference includes young stars such as Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, and the report adds concerns about other future threats, including Luka Doncic’s potential role with the Lakers and young talent in Houston. When asked if he saw a common theme in the lopsided exits, Edwards replied, “Good question. No comment.” Asked what it will take to get over the hump, he said, “I don’t know, man. I don’t think that’s a question for me.” Finch added, “You’ve either got to be a problem or have a solution… You’ve got to either be built in a way that troubles your opponent, that’s something they don’t have, or you’ve got to have a counter to what they do have, so I’m sure GMs across the league, these are things” per the report.
