Julius Randle scored 21 points and Anthony Edwards came off the bench to hit for 18 points as the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the San Antonio Spurs 104-102 on Monday in Game 1 of the teams’ Western Conference semifinal series.

The Timberwolves will take a 1-0 lead into Game 2, which will be contested on Wednesday in the Alamo City. Games 3 and 4 will be in Minneapolis on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Minnesota was bolstered by the return of Edwards, who suffered a bone bruise in his left knee on April 25 that was supposed to keep him out “multiple weeks.”

San Antonio led by three points after three quarters. Edwards scored 11 of the Timberwolves’ first 19 points of the fourth period before Minnesota reeled off a 7-0 run capped by a 3-pointer by Mike Conley with 4:42 left to build a 95-86 advantage.

Victor Wembanyama’s dunk with 44 seconds left trimmed the margin to four and Dylan Harper’s steal and layup with 31 seconds remaining brought San Antonio within a bucket. After a miss by Randle, the Spurs opted not to call a time out and got the ball to Julian Champagnie, who’s 3-pointer at the buzzer hit the front of the rim and away.

Jaden McDaniels and Terrence Shannon Jr. added 16 points each for Minnesota. Naz Reid and Conley had 12 points apiece with Randle and Rudy Gobert grabbing 10 rebounds each.

Harper led the Spurs with 18 points while Stephon Castle and Champagnie scored 17 each. Devin Vassell had 14 points and Wembanyama recorded an 11-point, 15-rebound, 12 blocked shots triple-double despite going 0-for-8 from beyond the arc. Keldon Johnson also had 11 points for San Antonio.

Randle ran the floor for a dunk over Wembanyama at the buzzer to allow the Timberwolves to earn a 24-22 advantage after 12 minutes of play.

The teams traded runs over the first half of the second quarter as San Antonio built a 35-29 lead after a pair of free throws by Luke Kornet at the 6:38 mark. The Timberwolves swung back with a 7-0 surge capped by a layup by Reid that netted them a 36-35 advantage, and the rest of the half went back and forth before ending tied at 45-all.

Harper led all scorers with 11 points before halftime while Castle added 10 for the Spurs. Edwards, Reid and Randle had seven points each to pace Minnesota in the first half.

–Field Level Media

The San Francisco Giants summoned help from the minors in their return home on Monday following a 0-6 road trip, and one of the call-ups delivered a skid-ending victory.

Trevor McDonald, making his first major league appearance of the season, pitched seven innings of one-run ball as San Francisco beat the San Diego Padres 3-2. The right-hander permitted two hits and no walks while striking out eight.

Two other call-ups were in the starting lineup, too. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge served as the designated hitter and went 0-for-2 with a walk, while catcher Jesus Rodriguez finished 0-for-3 in his big-league debut.

To clear spots on the roster, the Giants optioned outfielder Will Brennan to Sacramento, designated outfielder Jerar Encarnacion for assignment and placed left-hander Erik Miller on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Friday, due to a lower back strain.

The Giants scored only nine runs on their trek to face the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays. Five of those runs came in an extra-inning loss, and the Giants were shut out twice.

San Francisco is the worst team in the majors in runs (106), home runs (19), RBIs (101), bases on balls (69) and on-base percentage (.287) under first-year manager Tony Vitello.

The Giants will hope Eldridge and Rodriguez can help to unlock the offense.

The 6-foot-7, 250-pound Eldridge is just 21 and was the Giants’ first-round draft pick in 2023.

In 30 games this season at Triple-A Sacramento, the first baseman is batting .333 with a .963 OPS. He has six doubles, five home runs, 22 RBIs and 25 runs. He also has walked 20 times.

The biggest knock on Eldridge is his penchant for striking out — 41 times in 114 at-bats this season — but the Giants apparently feel they are out of time to work on that at the Triple-A level.

The Giants called him up briefly last season, and he batted .107 with four RBIs and 13 strikeouts in 10 games.

MLB Pipeline ranks Eldridge as the No. 20 prospect in baseball and No. 1 in the San Francisco system. It has Rodriguez ranked No. 18 among Giants prospects.

In 24 games at Sacramento, Rodriguez is hitting .330 with two homers and 14 RBIs. The 24-year-old has played in 431 games in the minors since 2019 and has a career average of .311 with 34 homers and 240 RBIs.

McDonald, 25, had brief stints with the Giants the past two years, going a combined 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in four games (two starts). This year for Sacramento, he was 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in five appearances (four starts).

Brennan, 28, went 0-for-9 in five games for San Francisco. He played for the Cleveland Guardians each of the previous four seasons.

Encarnacion, 28, was hitless in his past 11 at-bats, leaving him with a .176 average and no RBIs in 17 games this season. He played for the Giants in 2024 and 2025 after starting his major league career with the Miami Marlins in 2022.

Miller, 28, has no decisions, two saves and a 3.18 ERA in 12 appearances this season, his third year with the Giants.

–Field Level Media

Ivan Barbashev scored a controversial go-ahead goal with 4:58 remaining in the third period, leading the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 of their Western Conference second-round playoff series on Monday in Las Vegas.

Barbashev’s goal came after the Golden Knights regained possession in the right corner when Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe, who was screening Jack Eichel, and the rest of the Ducks let up while anticipating an icing call. Barbashev had fired the puck into the zone from behind the red line.

However, icing was waived off at the last second and Pavel Dorofeyev crossed a pass to Barbashev, who roofed a shot from the left side of the crease for the game-winner.

Carter Hart stopped 33 of 34 shots, Mitch Marner scored a empty-net goal and had an assist and Brett Howden also tallied for Vegas, which improved to 28-8-3 all-time against Anaheim, including 16-3-1 at home.

Mikael Granlund scored a goal and Lukas Dostal finished with 19 saves for Anaheim.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Shortly after Anaheim’s Troy Terry rang a wrist shot from the right circle off the right post, Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 3:14 mark of the second period. Howden, who scored only 12 goals in 58 regular-season games, produced his fifth in seven playoff games when he redirected Marner’s cross-ice pass through traffic inside the left post.

Anaheim had an excellent chance to tie it midway through the period when Leo Carlsson made a highlight-reel spinning pass to LaCombe alone at the edge of the right circle. However, LaCombe, the team’s leading scorer in the Ducks’ first-round win over Edmonton with nine points, passed up a shot at a wide-open net to pass to Terry in front of the blue paint. The puck slid past Terry’s stick.

The Ducks tied it 1-1 with 6:03 to go in the third period. LaCombe drove down the left wing and crossed a pass to Granlund, who ripped in a wrist shot for his third goal of the playoffs.

Vegas regained the lead just 65 seconds later on Barbashev’s goal as Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville and the Ducks bench angrily protested the non-icing call.

The Ducks pulled Dostal for an extra attacker with 1:55 to go, and Marner sealed the win with a length-of-the-ice empty-netter with six seconds remaining.

–Field Level Media