The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the San Antonio Spurs 117-110 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Group C of the 2023-2024 NBA Regular Season In-Season Tournament at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Monday (Nov. 11). The win extended Minnesota’s winning streak to five games.
The game was highly anticipated for the matchup of the two teams’ big men.
Minnesota has the twin towers of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns. San Antonio, on the other hand, has the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Victor Wembanyama. The matchup between Gobert and Wembanyama was especially meaningful because the two Frenchmen are teammates.
The winner was Minnesota. Kobe was solid on the boards with 11 points and 10 rebounds, including four offensive rebounds. Towns was on fire with 29 points and 12 rebounds, including three 3-pointers.
But Wembanyama was no slouch either, averaging 13.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 26.9 percent shooting over his last two games.레모나토토
On this night, he was a completely different player. Wambanyama was light on his feet and finished with 29 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots.
Minnesota head coach Chris Finch acknowledged Wambanyama’s impact in the postgame interview.
“I think our guys were too conscious of Victor Wembanyama’s defense,” Finch said.
“After halftime, I told them to get out there and show our aggressiveness. “I told them after halftime to go out on the court and show our aggressiveness,” he said. Even if Wembanyama made a blocked shot, we had to continue to be aggressive.”
How did Kobe feel about going up against the younger Wembanyama under the basket?
“I think Wembanyama played a good game, he made a lot of difficult shots today. I defended hard to prevent him from taking easy shots, especially at the end of the game,” he said.