'Most Hostile Environment': Spurs Ready to Take Timberwolves' Best Punch in Game 4

MINNEAPOLIS -- 'Minnesota Nice' is a real thing, but these kind midwestern hosts are going be anything but hospitable to the visiting San Antonio Spurs when Game 4 tips off at Target Center.

The Timberwolves need to win to even the series, otherwise they'll head back to San Antonio on the brink of elimination. Everyone in the building knows that, from the coaches and players to the fans in the stands. The Spurs are 3-0 on the road so far in the playoffs, but they fully expect this to be their toughest test yet.

"I think going through that experience of being in a hostile environment, we had some throughout the year with probably added excitement or attention to some games played on the road, but that still pales in comparison to what we've been through now in the playoffs," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said before the game.

The NBA Cup run featured road wins in Denver and Los Angeles, then the Spurs headed to Vegas to beat the Thunder before losing the final game to the Knicks. On Christmas Day they went into Oklahoma City and dominated. In the team's first playoffs games on the road they erased big deficits in Portland to put the Blazers down 3-1. It's all been building to this moment.

"We expect tonight to be probably the most hostile environment we've played in," Johnson said. "So, you know, try to embrace it in a sense, because at the end of the day, it's just going to come down to executing and trying to play our brand of basketball and not make it more than that."

The particular brand of basketball that Johnson has established holds up well when the team leaves San Antonio. Defense travels, and absolute defense travels absolutely.

The Spurs are holding opponents to 101.4 points per 100 possessions in the postseason, by far the best mark in the NBA. Teams tend to shoot better in their home arenas, but when San Antonio comes to town they're holding their hosts to 103 points per 100 possessions, which still beats the benchmark of 106.7 that Oklahoma City set in the regular season.

They're averaging a league-best 8.3 blocks per game, and Victor Wembanyama's 19 blocks in the second round put him ahead of several teams and the next best three shot blockers combined.

The Minnesota crowd got a good look at that defense in all its glory in Game 3, and the early struggles that could have taken the crowd out of it seemed to instead charge an anxious energy that exploded into jubilation when the shots finally started falling. That nervousness may be even more pervasive on a night where winning becomes even more critical.

"We come here, and if you lose this game now you're looking at Game 4 and it's like, 'we absolutely have to win this game,' cause you don't wanna go down 3-1," De'Aaron Fox said after San Antonio's Game 3 win. "Obviously we've seen teams come back from 3-1 in the last couple years, more than we have ever seen in the last 40 years, but winning this game was extremely important to us, because that's, your back's against the wall on the road down 2-1."

Like the fans, The Timberwolves on the court will be desperate to avoid being pushed to the brink of elimination. While the Spurs understand that and expect physicality and intensity, they're not changing their approach or preparation.

"No," Johnson said flatly when he was asked. "Every game has a ton of circumstances and tonight's game is the only game that matters, so we're going to attack tonight's game like it's the most year, expecting them do the same, and that's that."

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