Timberwolves fall 121-111 in San Antonio as Wembanyama, Spurs pull away

The Minnesota Timberwolves left San Antonio with a 121-111 loss on Saturday night. Victor Wembanyama posted the second-highest scoring game of his career, and De'Aaron Fox and rookie Dylan Harper gave him enough help to close it out. The defeat drops Minnesota to 4-3. After a 3-0 start, the Wolves have gone 1-3 over their last four games.

Minnesota had a chance late, according to Mateo Mayorga's film breakdown for SB Nation's Pounding The Rock, which Yahoo Sports syndicated. On a break, Jonathan Kuminga slowed down to try a behind-the-back dribble. That gave Wembanyama time to recover and block the shot at the rim, and the Spurs pulled away from there.

Mayorga's review shows how badly Wembanyama hurt the Wolves at both ends. He scored about a dozen of his baskets at the rim, mostly off screen-and-roll plays, where Fox, Stephon Castle or Harper could throw the ball high and let his length do the rest. In one sequence, two Minnesota defenders covered the roll correctly and still couldn't stop the finish. Mayorga summed it up as "there's nothing to do about this." Wembanyama also attacked opposing big men off the dribble on the perimeter and dunked over Kuminga. On defense he switched between ball handler and roller to cut off passing lanes. One of his blocks moved him to fourth on the Spurs' all-time list, 49 behind Artis Gilmore.

Harper put a Michael Jordan-style shrug on one of his scoring runs, and Devin Vassell found him for a transition score with Minnesota's Joan Beringer trailing the play. San Antonio also spaced the floor well around its big man. Kuminga had to stay tight to Julian Champagnie, who the outlet noted is shooting 47.6 percent from three this season.

The Wolves' first four losses in a row came this season by small margins: two points at Cleveland, then five at home against Golden State. This was the first one in which an opponent controlled the closing stretch and won by double digits.

What it means against Milwaukee

Minnesota returns home Monday to face the Milwaukee Bucks. The Wolves are 2-1 at Target Center and 2-2 on the road. They have scored 120.0 points per game and allowed 108.7, so their point differential is still better than their record suggests. The bounce-back pattern also helps them: after the Golden State loss, they beat the Clippers 127-101.

The market sees a mismatch. Across the 12 venues on this site's board, the Timberwolves are heavy favorites. On Novig, Minnesota is -400 on the moneyline and Milwaukee is +388. The spread is 10.5 points. Novig prices the Wolves at -106 to cover, and theScore Bet has the best Minnesota price at -105. On the Bucks' side, Novig has +104 at +10.5, while Pinnacle offers a half-point more at +11, priced at -108.

The total is 234.5 on Novig, with Over at -100 and Under at -106. BetRivers has the lowest Over number at 232.5 (-114). That total sits above Minnesota's season average of about 229 combined points, and only two of the Wolves' seven games have gone past 234.5. The venues are close together: sportsbook hold ranges from 2.9 to 5.0 percent across the markets, and the spread and total vary by no more than two points.

More coverage of the season is on the Timberwolves team page.