In the second quarter, Victor Wembanyama let the physicality of the playoffs get to him, and in a major surprise, he threw a major elbow to the neck of Naz Reid, resulting in a flagrant 2 and an ejection. In one move, the momentum of the game, and potentially the entire series, flipped in Minnesota's favor.
Four games in, and as expected, scoring the basketball against a Wembanyama-led defense is a tall task that the Wolves haven't been able to effectively solve. So the fact that their offense has been so bogged down, and yet the series is still tied, is a huge win.
The Wolves could have very well been looking down the barrel of a 3-1 deficit had Wemby not gotten ejected, with the way their offense outside of Anthony Edwards has looked.
This game gives the Timberwolves confidence to build on going into Game 5
Up until the start of Game 4, it's fair to say that the Wolves weren't playing like a very confident team. The offense has been a lot of "Anthony Edwards, please bail us out," and when the Spurs have trapped Ant, the shots haven't been falling for the others (besides Naz Reid).
Losing Game 2 embarrassingly and having Wemby shut the door in Game 3 seemed to take the wind out of the Wolves' sails.
Now heading back to San Antonio, with a new best-of-three series, and Anthony Edwards looking pretty close to himself, there's a lot more reason for optimism.
It's only a matter of time before Ayo Dosunmu, Jaden McDaniels, and hopefully Julius Randle provide efficient offense, and if that happens, the Wolves will be in good shape.
They didn't play really well in Game 5 at all, and if Wemby plays the entire game, it's probably a loss.
But if the Wolves go on to win this series, people will, and should look at his ejection as the point of this series, where a lot of momentum and confidence shifted.
Even then, this series is going to be a war to win the next two games. Both teams have played extremely physically on defense, and both stars have come to play.
You have to think that positive regression to the mean will come into play with the Wolves' role players. Because if they can finally start hitting shots at a respectable clip, the Spurs won't be able to trap Ant as aggressively.
This series just got a whole lot more interesting, though. From looking fairly lifeless to oozing with newfound confidence thanks to some poor judgment on Wemby's part.
The Wolves no longer have home-court advantage, but an unlikely hero may nonetheless have helped them gain some traction.
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