Timberwolves handle San Antonio, getting offense and defense from Donte DiVincenzo

<strong>Timberwolves handle San Antonio, getting offense and defense from Donte DiVincenzo</strong>

Jerry Zgoda, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Dec 30, 2024

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On Sunday, it was the other player acquired in the blockbuster Karl-Anthony Towns trade who fueled the Timberwolves' 112-110 home victory over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.

It was reserve guard Donte DiVincenzo — not three-time All-Star Julius Randle — who made five three-pointers, scored 26 points and made the game’s defining defensive hustle play in the final minutes.

Wolves coach Chris Finch calls the 7-3 sensation Wembanyama a “special talent” who is “in the heart of everything” for the young Spurs team, which has been without legendary coach Gregg Popovich since early November.

Finch left out the part about amateur chess player.

Wembanyama scored 34 points on 13-for-30 shooting — including four three pointers — but he missed the second of two free throws with 18 seconds left that would have tied the game.

DiVincenzo missed the first of two free throws himself and made the second after the Spurs were forced to foul with the clock ticking down.

That gave the Wolves a 112-110 lead that stood as the winning score when Jeremy Sochan missed a three-pointer as time ran out.

With the score tied at 101 with 4:45 left in regulation, the Wolves successfully used a coach’s challenge to reverse an offensive foul call on Randle. He had driven hard to the rim against Wembanyama, and the reversal gave the Wolves a 103-101 lead.

The Spurs pulled even with two free throws, then Wembanyama missed two three-pointers. .

Center Rudy Gobert’s putback jam put the Wolves back ahead 105-103 with 3:34 left before DiVincenzo’s fifth three-point shot of the night gave the Wolves a 108-103 lead with less than three minutes left.

The Wolves had won eight of their past 12 games before Sunday but also had starts — particularly at Target Center — that pleased Finch none too much.

“The team is in a good place,” Finch said before the game. “A lot of not-so-great starts. But in general, the team feels good about where we’re going.”

The Wolves trailed 18-10 and 24-12 in the first seven minutes. They cut their deficit to five points three times before finishing the first quarter down 33-25.

The Wolves started the second quarter with a 13-0 run that took them from an eight-point deficit into a 38-33 lead in the quarter’s first three-plus minutes.

DiVincenzo and Josh Minott did most of the work. Each made a three-pointer in that run, as did Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Minott started the run with a thunderous alley-oop dunk off a pass from Alexander-Walker, and DiVincenzo drove the lane with impunity during it as well.

By halftime the Wolves led 57-45.

Sunday’s tipoff was delayed more than an hour, to 8:10 p.m., eight days after a game against Golden State at Target Center was delayed more than 20 minutes for basket repair.

“If it was something earlier for some reason, it might really upset guys’ routines — their pregame nap, pregame meal, stuff like that – but this is probably if anything more of an annoyance,” Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson said. “I don’t think it should be that big of a deal since the circumstances are the same for both teams.”

Wembanyama took on social-media opponents playing chess in the rain in Washington Square Park on Saturday morning after the Spurs beat the Nets the night before and before their plane left later that day for Minnesota.

“He’s a better guy than I am, in the rain, with how long that trip was,” Johnson said. “That was a real, genuine passion for him. I play chess, but not like that. I know the rules, but I wouldn’t call myself a chess player.”

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