Wemby to McDaniels: Five Focal Points to Watch in Game 6 of Spurs vs. Timberwolves

Anthony Edwards and Minnesota are doing everything they can to avoid elimination, but the time for adjusting to San Antonio is all but over, and we know where the game will be won or lost.

May 12, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) grabs San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during the first half of game five of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

MINNEAPOLIS -- By the start of Game 6 between the San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves, there seems to be very little in the way of basketball adjustments to be made.

"You know what everyone is gonna do, we know each other's plays, we know the tendencies of everybody," De'Aaron Fox said at Target Center hours before tipoff, looking ahead at a chance to knock the Timberwolves out.

"At that point it's you gotta try to will some of these games, if you can cause some turnovers or push out their catches a little more, it's just little nuances of the game," Fox said. "There's nothing that's gonna surprise us. They're not gonna play anyone they haven't played yet, we're not gonna play someone we haven't played yet, they know everything that's coming from us. It's just trying to put your will on the game, try to make everything tougher."

Minnesota's Rudy Gobert agreed that the time for surprises has likely come and passed.

"Small adjustments, but nothing major," Gobert said. "I think that's the playoffs. They know who we are we know who they are... It's on us to keep doing the things we can control. Whatever we agree to do on any specific situation, try to do that. You're not always gonna stop the other team, but at least we give ourselves a chance to put ourselves in the best situation possible."

Part of the reason it's the Timberwolves with their backs against the wall for Game 6 is they're dealing with a slew of injuries to key players. Another part is that by their own admission, they haven't executed their game plan as well as they'd like to.

"Tried to dig ourselves out of the hole, but I mean, eventually they created another lead," Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards said after Minnesota lost that pivotal Game 5. "Running out in transition, we gotta get back, get matched up, game plan mistakes that we keep making, and it's too late in the series to make these mistakes."

"It's a little bit of everything," Edwards elaborated. "Not knowing the game plan, executing on offense. We know they're gonna be physical defensively, we know how to go against that. Us defensively, we know our coverages what we're supposed to be doing when they're in pick and roll, and I think that we're just not doing it enough."

Minnesota knows they need to clean some things up in front of their home crowd tonight, or their season will end. Here's what the Timberwolves are focusing on with their playoff lives on the line.

1. The Big Run, Especially to Start

After an early ejection from the Game 4 Spurs loss, Victor Wembanyama came out like a man possessed to start Game 5. He scored 16 points in his first stint and finished the first half with 20 points and 11 rebounds to put the Timberwolves in another early hole.

"It's super important for us, the way we start a game sets the tone. Now, the challenge is to do it for 48 minutes," Wembanyama said.

"When you go into games you want to get out to the best start you possibly can," said Timberwolves' point guard Mike Conley. "Spurs get off to historically good starts when they play against us, and they have been for the last few series, so we have to be ready to take any punches, ready to deliver any punches we need to, and be able to just be solid no matter what is going on, high or low, for our team, and emotionally stable during all of it."

May 12, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) dunks during the first half of game five of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

In every game the Spurs have won this series, they've stormed out to a double-digit lead in the first 15 minutes. In every game they've lost, the Timberwolves managed to prevent them from leading by 10 or more at any point.

"If they go on a run just all of us coming together and staying together through those runs, not letting a 10-0 run turn into a 20-0 run, just really staying together," Jaden McDaniels said.

At no point have the Timberwolves led by double digits, and in multiple games they've trailed by 30 or more. That shows how much smaller Minnesota's margin for error is, but the fact that they've won two games shows that they can scrap it out as long as they stay in contact.

"Sticking with it and playing defense the whole time even if our offense isn't working, just trying to stop the other team, because if they don't score and we don't score, could keep it close to the end and we could end up winning somehow," McDaniels said.

"Every team's confident when everything's going well for 'em," coach Chris Finch said after the Spurs blew their doors off in Game 5. "We've got to focus on a big start, but irrespective of that, it was a tight game after one, it was a tight game halfway through the third, so there were other parts of the game that let us down rather than just the start."

2. Escaping the Ant Trap

Anthony Edwards' legendary athletic burst is currently hampered by different problems in each knee, but he's still a terrifying force for San Antonio to deal with. For the first time all series, Edwards got an extra day off to lick his wounds.

"Anthony probably really could use it after a run of games and a lot of minutes, still coming back from where he's been," Finch said of his star, who has played around 40 minutes in each of the last three contests.

"You definitely see that he's not as explosive, but he's still a great player, so you figure out a way, and I think he's shooting like 50/40 right now, so he's still doing what he does," Fox said at shootaround.

Edwards is indeed shooting 50% from the floor and 40% from the 3-point line, and it feels like every attempt is going to go down. He's averaging almost 24 points per game, and the Spurs have committed to forcing the ball out of his hands with aggressive double teams. The Timberwolves are working hard to find a solution, and made some progress during stretches of Game 5.

"They were pretty heavy in the gaps around Ant in particular, so we were able to space a little bit better around him, give him cleaner outlets, found open shots for each other when the ball got to the middle of the floor," Finch said.

May 10, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) goes to the basket past San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell (24) in the fourth quarter of game four of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

But there's an elephant in the room, more of a giraffe actually, who allows his teammates to swarm on the perimeter and throws a monkey wrench in any plan of attack.

"Getting Ant off the ball and setting some screens for him so they can't just trap him when he dribbles across half court," Julius Randle said. "Every time he dribbles over half court they're trapping, and kinda fanning out once we pass out, getting to spacing and trying to funnel everything back to the rim with Wemby."

"Ant's done a really good job of getting off it and finding us," Mike Conley said. "I think Wemby, obviously, the situation with him being in the paint, you can't just drive it and go dunk on somebody or go finish or draw two in because they don't have to help from any other side because they just funnel everything down to Wemby. That makes everything a little bit more difficult."

May 8, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) blocks a shot from Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) in the second half during game three of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

3. Fire Away With 5-Out

If there is a big, splashy adjustment that Chris Finch might still have up his sleeve, it's benching his traditional center Rudy Gobert in favor of a smaller lineup with Naz Reid at the five. Doing so would make the Timbnerwolves a bit more switchable on defense, and on the other end they'd be able to space the floor with all five guys outside the 3-point arc.

"I think when we have our 5-out spacing, we have shooters across the board, that then puts a lot of stress on them because if Wemby does help, then somebody's gonna be open," Conley said. "We just have to do a better job of finding and making the right reads on time, and making the passes on target, and knock down our shots."

When Wembanyama is on the floor against Minnesota's smaller looks, the Timberwolves aggressively hunt for driving lanes and corner 3s.

May 12, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid (11) shoots over San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (3) during the first half of game five of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

"It just kinda takes him away from the rim, Wemby, and he can't help as much because the spacing is different, 5-out with Naz being able to space the floor," Randle said. "And then defensively we've got to keep him off the glass, gotta keep people off the glass, take away his rolls. When it's that group in the game he tends to roll more, crash the glass, stuff like that, so we have to get him off his spots when he rolls."

Whether or not Gobert starts, the small-ball lineup will be an important part of the Timberwolves' scoring arsenal.

4. Can Jaden McDaniels Tread Lightly?

Jaden McDaniels is a solid scorer and dogged defender who unlocks so much for Minnesota on both ends of the floor, but he's struggled to stay out there as much as he'd like to because of foul trouble.

"We've had foul trouble issues in a couple games, whether it be [Julius Randle] or Jaden [McDaniels] honestly, which is part of the non-Rudy Wemby lineup," Finch said. "That's really affected our ability to get to some of the matchups that we want to."

The fiesty wing has logged between four and five fouls in each of these games, forcing him to the bench at times. He played under 20 minutes of the blowout Game 2 loss after picking up five fouls, and under 30 in the Game 5 drubbing.

The Spurs are quite familiar with how physical this Minnesota team can be, and McDaniels is one of the best at setting the tone.

"We know what type of team they are, they're extremely physical, whenever they are able to be physical, get their hands on teams, get out in transition, that's when they're at their best," said Fox. "For us, even if you feel like it's a foul you gotta play through until the whistle, and for us if we miss shots get back. That's where they've hurt us: in transition when they've been physical, and the way that we've hurt them is being able to be the physical team back."

The Spurs know McDaniels is a key, and so do the Timberwolves.

"We know what we gotta do in order to beat the team, and I think everything starts with Jaden McDaniels, trying to keep him out of foul trouble, cause he's so important to the team he's so important to us it hurts everybody when he gets in foul trouble," said Ant Edwards. "Some tough calls being made out there against him man, so it's not too much we can say, but we try to avoid him getting in foul trouble, and if we can do that we give ourselves a great chance to win the ballgame."

"He means so much to our team," said Ayo Dosunmu. "I always get selfishly frustrated when he gets in foul trouble just because his presence out there on the defensive end, being able to make plays and be aggressive, we need that. He goes out in foul trouble it hurts us because he means so much to our team. He's one of our anchors defensively, and he's been in those positions before also, so he means a lot to our team for sure."

May 12, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels (3) and San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell (24) battle for a loose ball during the first half of game five of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

The Spurs can inundate opponents with playmaking talent, and McDaniels is the guy who has the best chance at slowing down the likes of De'Aaron Fox, Steph Castle and Dylan Harper. The trouble for him is all of those dudes are quick, strong, and crafty.

"They got a lot of guys that can get downhill by their selves, and go in transition by their selves, and they've got a lot of shooters on the outside so just really being disciplined, stopping their transition," McDaniels said.

Asked how he can remain out there for his team, McDaniels' answer seemed a bit wishful.

"Be less aggressive, and I'll play the game with zero fouls," he said, prompting the obvious follow up question.

"Are you capable of being less aggressive? I mean, you play a certain way," a reporter asked.

"I could do it just... I don't know," McDaniels admitted. "I don't know. I've never tried before, to be honest."

5. Can Wemby Be Stopped?

The common thread in the two games that San Antonio lost in this series is that Victor Wembanyama played poorly. He shot just 5-17 from the floor and 0-8 from beyond the arc in Game 1, and he got himself tossed early in the second quarter of Game 4. It seems unlikely that he'll repeat either.

"He's one of the best players in the league, so I always say, playoff time, the best players rise to the occasion," Dosunmu said. "At any given moment they can go off you saw Ant last game, how he was able to just erupt. Once he gets it going it's hard to stop. I think Wemby, he came out with that same mindset, he made some easy ones and the basket started to look a little big for him... When you're a good player like that, any moment you could break out."

Gobert got put into the blender and onto the highlight reel by his old mentee multiple times in Game 5.

May 12, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) fakes to shoot over Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) during the second half of game five of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

"In Rudy's defense, obviously Wembanyama's a really tough cover," Finch said. "Any time we've made a mistake around him with regards to executing the coverages to help him we've payed for it. Some of the time's it's been him picking the wrong route, and some of the times it's been our help, so we've got to be on point with those things."

Even for a four-time Defensive Player of the Year who clamped up Nikola Jokic in the last series, and an extremely-physical defense all around him, there's only so much you can do against the alien.

"Tonight, some of the stuff that Wemby was doing you don't really have too much of an answer for it," Edwards said at the podium. "Just kinda hope he misses."