{"id":1932901,"date":"2026-05-13T10:45:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1932901"},"modified":"2026-05-13T10:45:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:45:22","slug":"victor-wembanyama-counters-timberwolves-rage-baiting-with-cold-blooded-revenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1932901","title":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama counters Timberwolves\u2019 \u2018rage baiting\u2019 with cold-blooded revenge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Most NBA teams usually can\u2019t wait to get home, especially after a loss. They have chartered planes that fly when they want, so landing at 4 a.m. is just the norm. Fans will line the road leading out of the airport, honking and waving to their heroes, even as the sunrise waits around the corner.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

But following Victor Wembanyama\u2019s ejection<\/a> in a narrow Game 4 loss<\/a> to tie up their series against the Minnesota Timberwolves Sunday, the Spurs went back to their hotel to get a good night\u2019s sleep. They landed in San Antonio Monday afternoon, sun blazing, late enough in the day for El Jefe to greet them. No fanfare, just Pop.<\/p>\n

\n

Victor Wembanyama could see a blue Tesla Model X waiting for him on the tarmac, gull-wing door in the air, somehow high enough to reach his eye level. Gregg Popovich stepped out, waiting for his young pupil a day ahead of what would become a 126-97 Game 5 win<\/a> that gave the Spurs a 3-2 series lead.<\/p>\n

He knew his first NBA coach would have an earful to say, as he always does. Just by showing up, Popovich made a statement before Wembanyama even got a chance to say hi. Wembanyama stood there and listened, an arm behind his back, vulnerable, attentive, present.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs always, when he speaks, everybody listens,\u201d Wembanyama said.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama would not reveal the content of their discussion, though video showed<\/a> that it included Popovich turning his shoulders back and forth like, perhaps, a 7-foot-4 center trying to get out of a trap without elbowing anyone in the throat?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Maybe Popovich told Wembanyama that the burden of being the star is never losing control, especially when that\u2019s the opponent\u2019s clear goal. That was obvious, yet again, in the first quarter on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

After a basket, Jaden McDaniels tried to knock the ball out of Wembanyama\u2019s hands and grabbed him by the wrist, yet again. Within seconds, a smiling Ayo Dosunmu got in Wembanyama\u2019s face, saying something that didn\u2019t appear to be an autograph request. Wembanyama smiled back, appearing to respond, \u201cI\u2019ll be here,\u201d repeatedly. Anthony Edwards came over to get Dosunmu, but Wembanyama pushed Edwards\u2019 hand away as well and kept repeating the same thing.<\/p>\n

In a stark contrast to Game 4, Wembanyama looked completely unbothered.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

He wasn\u2019t ducking the challenge. He was inviting it with a smile. He knew it was coming, and he had to stand his ground. He learned in Game 4 that the only other place to go is the locker room for the night, so that\u2019s why he\u2019ll be here.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like the rage baiting would have been maybe one of their strategies,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cI just feel like we need to stay composed as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves could see they weren\u2019t getting to Wembanyama anymore. After all of the tension was released with one elbow, everything suddenly snapped into perspective.<\/p>\n

Like Naz Reid said, pain is just weakness leaving the body.<\/p>\n

Every time they would grab, smack or shove Wembanyama, it hurt a little bit, it frustrated a lot and it prevented him from playing freely, which is how he becomes most dangerous. The Wolves wanted to take away his freedom, to make the alien play on a planet they controlled. Once he stopped resisting their gravity and learned to embrace it, he was free.<\/p>\n

After a series of drives through Rudy Gobert, dimes to shooters and a 3 to cap it off, Wembanyama broke the game open almost as soon as it started. By the end of the first quarter, he had 18 points and six rebounds, joining LeBron James and Nikola Joki\u0107 as the only players to pull that off in the first quarter of a playoff game in 30 years, per Stathead.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight, some of the stuff that Wemby was doing, you don\u2019t really have too much of an answer for it,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cJust kinda hope he misses.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Wembanyama finished with 27 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. The only other players to do that are Anthony Davis, Tim Duncan (three times), Shaquille O\u2019Neal (three times), Hakeem Olajuwon, Ralph Sampson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain (seven times, unofficially). If you add in Wembanyama\u2019s pair of 3s, his stat line is unprecedented.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Earlier in the day, Devin Vassell said they were looking for \u201cAngry Vic\u201d to show up that night. After the game, Mitch Johnson praised \u201cMature Vic\u201d for showing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like they ain\u2019t mutually exclusive,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cSo I\u2019m looking for both.\u201d<\/p>\n

For most of the season, he was right. Wembanyama\u2019s furor was carefully curated. The fire in his eyes would rage suddenly, with only a few embers of Mature Vic foreshadowing Angry Vic\u2019s arrival. An occasional rough-and-tumble matchup would bring him out and remind the world just how dangerous he is becoming.<\/p>\n

But playoff-level physicality isn\u2019t something that just happens every few nights. It\u2019s the norm, and it features fiercer collisions, sharper elbows and straight-up shoves. Some teams try to toe the boundary, while some try to suplex their opponent over it, knowing that the officials will have to wipe away some blood to find the line again. The Wolves make no mistake about where they live on that spectrum.<\/p>\n

The Spurs drew a playoff path that has perhaps the three most physical defenses in the NBA. Wembanyama\u2019s first test was carefully designed to make him miserable and then see how he handles it. Now, he\u2019s officially passed, even if it took a failure to get there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we got the Vic that you\u2019ve seen all year. I think his maturity level was off the charts,\u201d teammate Stephon Castle said. \u201cWhen he\u2019s playing like that, playing aggressive with everything he brings for us defensively, I feel like we\u2019re pretty hard to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wembanyama made a point that can not be mistaken. The all-time greats, the players who define their eras, do it through statement games.<\/p>\n

His 16-point run in the first seven minutes was a love poem to his potential and a diss track to his haters: Reid, McDaniels, and, until they can be brothers again at the end of this week, Gobert.<\/p>\n

Did he ever make his point.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI thought we had a couple times tonight where we just kind of drew the line and said enough was enough, whatever that meant,\u201d coach Mitch Johnson said.<\/p>\n

When McDaniels hit the bench in the fourth quarter, he threw his towel in frustration. The rage baiting won\u2019t work anymore. Wembanyama is past all that.<\/p>\n

Angry Vic, Mature Vic, it doesn\u2019t matter who is in the driver\u2019s seat in that moment. They overlap enough to coexist spectacularly. He\u2019s not throwing elbows anymore, at least the Spurs hope. He\u2019ll be there. He\u2019s not going anywhere. Revenge is sweeter with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we got back up, we never looked back,\u201d De\u2019Aaron Fox said. \u201cAnd\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0the team that we want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Most NBA teams usually can\u2019t wait to get home, especially after a loss. They have chartered planes that fly when they want, so landing at 4 a.m. is just the norm. Fans will line the road leading out of the airport, honking and waving to their heroes, even as the sunrise waits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1932901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1932901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1932901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1932901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1932901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}