Victor Wembaneyama’s dominant performance led the San Antonio Spurs to a 115-108 victory over Minnesota in the NBA playoff series, giving them a 2-1 lead, and the red-hot New York Knicks defeated Philadelphia once again to take a 3-0 advantage.
On Friday, French superstar Wenbang Yama, who was under threat by the defense all night, scored 16 points with a tremendous attack in the fourth quarter that dominated a tight, tense and physical game held by the Timberwolves.
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The 7-foot-4 phenom, playing in the NBA postseason for the first time, finished the night in Minneapolis with 39 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks overall.
“I’m built for this. I love this more than anything,” Wenbanyama said.
He added: “We have talent. We have depth. We don’t have the experience, but we don’t care… If we can play consistently like we did tonight, we will go to the top.”
Minnesota was buoyed by the return of their talisman, Anthony Edwards, to the starting lineup.
Despite the Timberwolves’ upset win in Game 1, Edwards was still recovering from a knee injury and scored just 12 points off the bench in Game 2.
He quickly returned to his inspired form, playing aggressive and patient basketball with 32 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.
The Timberwolves got off to a miserable start, missing their first 12 field goal attempts.
Wenbanyama shined defensively, setting the tone with two big blocks early on and forcing Minnesota to score from outside the paint.
The Timberwolves fought back, and the game was tied at 51-51 at halftime.
Superstars Edwards and Wenbanyama dominated the scoring in the first half, scoring 19 and 16 points, respectively, while everyone else shot just 30 percent from the field combined.
After the break, the match unfolded in a furious manner. When Jayden McDaniels and Dylan Harper fought for the ball, Harper’s head fell and collided with McDaniels’ knee.
Moments later, McDaniels and Stephon Castle pushed each other, and multiple players on both sides were involved in a scuffle.
However, Wenbanyama kept his cool and finished well, making two long-range 3-point shots to seal the victory.
Teammate De’Aaron Fox said of Wembaneyama’s performance, “It was amazing.”
“Teams are going to come here and try to be physical with him. He goes through it, doesn’t complain and knows what he’s going to endure,” he added.
“He comes out here and produces.”
Knicks win 3-0
Jalen Brunson once again starred as the Knicks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 108-94 and moved one win away from reaching the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
It was the sixth straight win for the Knicks, who have not dropped a game since rallying from a 2-1 deficit in the first round of their playoff series against Atlanta.
Brunson, who carried New York’s momentum across the line in a tense second game, showed composure as he recorded 33 points and nine assists.
He was backed by a muscular defensive performance that included 23 combined rebounds from Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart, leading the Knicks to a 3-0 victory in the best-of-seven series.
No team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit in a seven-game NBA series.
Playing in front of a raucous home crowd for the first time in this series, the Sixers won with tremendous energy from the tipoff.
Philadelphia’s Paul George scored 15 points in the first quarter as his team led by 12 points against the Knicks, who were missing injured OG Anunoby.
But the Knicks quickly fought back, tightened up their defense, and had a strong second quarter, scoring 33 points on 57 percent shooting and taking the lead by halftime.
Towns and the returning Joel Embiid engaged in an intense physical battle that at times resembled a wrestling match, with each player committing three fouls before the break.
The Sixers briefly cut the deficit to two points late in the third quarter, but then missed six shots in a row, including several bad air balls.
Boosted by more late showings from the talisman Brunson, the Knicks ran away in the final quarter and the Sixers lost hope.
The third-seeded Knicks will look to win the best-of-seven series when the teams reconvene for Game 4 in Philadelphia on Sunday.
“All you can do is try to get the next one and see what happens,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “If we get one point, we’re 3-1 right away, so we don’t have to think about being 3-0 anymore. But we’re going to have to really dig in, regroup, make some adjustments and make things better.”
Embiid said the team cannot “back down” because it faces a difficult task.
“You know, this is even tougher (after coming back from 3-1 to beat the Celtics), but we just go into it knowing we can’t get everything back in one game,” he said.
“Once you win one, you can focus on the next win and get the next win, and that’s what the mentality should be. That’s the mentality we had last week.”
