The San Antonio Spurs look to parlay their power, overall depth and momentum into a victory when they host the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is on Wednesday in the Alamo City before the series shifts to Minneapolis for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Second-seeded San Antonio earned a spot in the semis after beating sixth-seeded Portland in five games while Minnesota, the fifth-seed, needed six games to eliminate fourth-seeded Denver.

Expect defense to be at the forefront of the series, especially with French big men Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs — the reigning unanimous Defensive Player of the Year — and Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert, a four-time winner of that award (most recently in 2024), roaming the paint. The two were teammates on France’s Olympic squad in 2024 and Gobert has been a mentor for the 22-year-old Wembanyama.

“I’ve watched him evolve. I’ve watched the way he works, the way he takes care of himself, his thirst for knowledge,” Gobert said Saturday about Wembanyama. “Outside of the talent, he’s someone that is a very unique soul, very unique mind. Nothing is an accident. It’s not an accident he’s having the success he’s having. He’s preparing his mind, preparing his body like I’ve rarely seen someone do.”

Much of the discussion, at least for the early part of the series, is about how the Timberwolves can compete with San Antonio without star guard Anthony Edwards, who is on the shelf with a hyperextended knee injury that kept him out of the final two games of the series with Denver.

Minnesota relied on its reserve players and a career-playoff high 24 points from Terrence Shannon Jr. in the clinching 110-98 win on Friday, and will lean heavily on its bench against the Spurs.

Minnesota coach Chris Finch lauded his team for coming together in the face of adversity and a slew of injuries. That included the play of Shannon, who was all over the court in Friday’s victory.

“I thought he’d give us a boost. I didn’t realize it would be like this,” Finch said about Shannon. “Not just with his scoring, but I think he made a lot of emotional energy plays that got the crowd into it. This is one of the best collective efforts that we’ve had here. Just all the adversity that we’ve faced through that series, and keep fighting, keep guarding, and keep leaning into defense.”

Edwards was at the Timberwolves’ practice Saturday, shooting without jumping and moving slowly. He could return for Game 3 but until then it will be up to Gobert, forward Julius Randle (who was second to Edwards this season in scoring at 21.1 points per game) and the rest of the team’s role players.

It’s Minnesota’s third straight trip to the West semifinals.

“Very saddened about all of their injuries,” Wembanyama said about Minnesota’s walking wounded, “But we’re excited. We’re locked in. We know it’s going to be harder than our first series. (The Timberwolves have) great individual players. Tough team. It’s just a team that forces you to be on for 48 minutes every time.”

The Spurs have had six days to rest after closing out their series versus Portland with a 114-95 home win on April 28. De’Aaron Fox led San Antonio, scoring 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, while Wembanyama added 17 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots in the victory as the Spurs won their first playoff series since the 2016-17 campaign.

San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson understands that his team will be hard-pressed to beat the Timberwolves. Minnesota won two of the three games against the Spurs in the regular season, both of them on its home court.

“They guard, they’re physical, they try to impose their will and their competitiveness on you,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Saturday about the Timberwolves. “And they got a lot of individuals that take pride in that. In terms of their style of play and their disposition and brand I don’t think (the injuries) changes too much.

“Obviously, they showed the type of character and resolve and competitiveness they have.”

Fox could be the wild card in the series. He has averaged 23 points per game in his career against Minnesota, his third-highest average against any opponent.

–Field Level Media

Kris Bubic pitched seven strong innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the host Seattle Mariners 4-1 Sunday afternoon.

The Royals swept the three-game series after winning just three of their first 15 road games this season.

Bubic (3-1) gave up one run on four hits — all singles. The left-hander walked two and struck out seven. Seattle’s Chase Young owned one of those hits, but fanned in his three other at-bats.

Daniel Lynch IV worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his first save of the season.

Isaac Collins went 2-for-2, added a walk, a sacrifice fly and drove in two of Kansas City’s four runs. Vinnie Pasquantino added two hits in five at-bats and scored once.

The Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Leo Rivas, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, drew a leadoff walk and went from first to third on a hit-and-run as Julio Rodriguez grounded a one-out single to left field. Rivas scored as Josh Naylor grounded into a fielder’s choice to first.

The Royals responded with three runs in the fourth off Seattle starter Luis Castillo (0-3).

Bobby Witt Jr. lined a single to center, Pasquantino lined a single to right and Salvador Perez was hit on the left forearm by a pitch, loading the bases with no outs. Carter Jensen walked on a 3-2 pitch to force in the first run and Jac Caglianone grounded into a force-out to score the go-ahead run.

Collins flew out to center and the slow-footed Perez tagged at third and tried to score. Perez was initially ruled out by home-plate umpire Clint Vondrak, but the Royals challenged the call and a video review determined Perez got his hand on the plate just before the tag from catcher Jhonny Pereda.

The Royals tacked on a run in the sixth as Caglianone drew a two-out walk and scored on Collins’ double to center.

Castillo allowed four runs on six hits over six innings. The right-hander walked two and fanned five.

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh sat out a second consecutive game with discomfort in his right side.

–Field Level Media

Chase Elliott had the best car at high-speed Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday and won a four-lap sprint over Denny Hamlin to capture the Wurth 400 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Elliott, who took the lead with 29 laps left after a cycle of pit stops, had a lead of more than a second over Hamlin before Corey Heim wrecked with 11 circuits left.

All of the leaders except Tyler Reddick (two tires) stayed out, and Elliott cleared Hamlin off Turn 2 on the final restart and won by 0.407 seconds for his 23rd career victory.

Elliott, who led a race-high 87 laps, joined Reddick as the only multi-win drivers this season.

Following Hamlin were Alex Bowman, Reddick and Chris Buescher.

Polesitter Carson Hocevar and teammate Daniel Suarez led a Spire Motorsports front row, and Hocevar topped the first 19 laps before Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota gained the top spot until he pitted on Lap 37.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell owned the point late in the 80-lap Stage 1, but his No. 20 soon ran into trouble when Todd Gilliland’s No. 34 spun off Turn 4 on Lap 68, hit Bell and knocked him out of the race.

Erik Jones notched his first career stage win in his No. 43 Toyota. Hocevar, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe followed behind.

Caution 3 for William Byron’s spin led to a chain reaction on pit road that resulted in defending Texas winner Joey Logano smashing into the back of Cole Custer’s No. 41, which was stopped and waiting for Gibbs to leave his box. Gibbs then brought out the fourth caution a few laps later when Ryan Preece sent him into the wall.

Driving the No. 67 Toyota for 23XI Racing, Heim led 69 laps in all but lost one as he headed to pit road. However, he regained the lead lap when Kyle Larson, fighting an ill-handling Chevy, looped his No. 5 all by himself and smacked the Turn 2 wall to end his day with just a few circuits left in Stage 2.

In a one-lap dash to end the segment, Elliott passed Brad Keselowski to claim the top points. Reddick, Keselowski, Hamlin and Preece finished as the top five.

–Field Level Media