Sports
Spurs aim to keep rolling as West semis start vs. banged-up Timberwolves
Apr 28, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) pumps his fist after a victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in game five of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images 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
Sports
Pistons complete comeback from 3-1 hole, vanquish Magic in Game 7
May 3, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) dribbles defended by Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) in the first half during game seven of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images Cade Cunningham scored 32 points and added 12 assists, and Tobias Harris contributed 30 points and nine rebounds to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 116-94 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Daniss Jenkins came off the bench to score 16 points and Jalen Duren had 15 points and 15 rebounds for the top-seeded Pistons, who won the final three games of the series to advance in the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Detroit is the 15th team in NBA history to rally from a 3-1 deficit.
Paolo Banchero scored 38 points and had nine rebounds and Desmond Bane added 16 points for the Magic, who blew a 3-1 first-round series lead to Detroit for the second time, with the previous collapse coming in 2003.
Detroit advances to the Eastern Conference semifinals and will face either Cleveland or Toronto beginning Tuesday.
The Pistons scored 11 of the first 13 points of the third quarter, six coming from Cunningham, to take control and build a 71-51 lead. Orlando responded with a 7-0 run to cut it to 13, but Detroit pushed the advantage back to as many as 20.
Detroit built a 25-point lead with just more than eight minutes remaining in the game. The Magic responded with a 15-4 run to pull within 100-86 with 4:22 left, but the Pistons scored 16 of the final 24 points to secure the win.
Defense ruled a tightly played first quarter, with neither side able to seize control. The teams traded the lead five times and were tied on three occasions, as physical play and contested shots kept scoring in check.
There were six more lead changes in the second quarter before the Pistons closed the half on a 20-6 run to take a 60-49 lead. Detroit erupted for 40 points in the period, fueled by 17 from Harris and 10 from Cunningham, while Banchero led Orlando with 23 points in the half.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jonah Heim, Braves pummel Rockies to sweep series, jump to 25-10
May 3, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Atlanta Braves catcher Jonah Heim (20) celebrates scoring a run after his sacrifice fly in the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images Jonah Heim homered, doubled and drove in a career-high-tying five runs as the Atlanta Braves completed a three-game series sweep of the Colorado Rockies with a 11-6 victory on Sunday afternoon in Denver.
Matt Olson went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI and Jorge Mateo also homered and had two hits and two RBIs for Atlanta. Three other Braves finished with two hits: Eli White (triple, RBI), Ozzie Albies (three runs, RBI) and Drake Baldwin.
The Braves, who won for the sixth time in seven games, are off to their best 35-game start (25-10) since 1892, when the franchise then known as the Boston Beaneaters started 26-9.
Aaron Bummer (1-1) picked up the win in relief. Spencer Strider made his season debut for the Braves after starting the season on the injured list with a left oblique strain and left after 3 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits while walking five. He struck out six and left after throwing 87 pitches, just 48 for strikes.
Mickey Moniak hit two home runs and drove in three runs, Troy Johnston had two hits with two walks and a run and TJ Rumfield went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and a run for Colorado, which suffered its fourth straight loss.
Kyle Freeland (1-3) suffered the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out seven.
Colorado took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Rumfield, but Atlanta answered with three runs in the second on back-to-back homers by Heim, a 425-foot two-run blast to center, and Mateo.
Rumfield cut the lead to 3-2 in the third with a leadoff homer. The Rockies then took a 4-3 lead an inning later on a two-run homer by Moniak, driving in Jake McCarthy, who had tripled.
Atlanta regained the lead with three runs in the fifth, parlaying two hits and three walks, including one to White with the bases loaded.
Colorado cut the lead to 6-5 on a sacrifice fly by Ezequiel Tovar, but the Braves answered with two runs in the sixth, including an RBI double to the wall in left-center by Olson.
Moniak hit his second homer and 11th of the season in the eighth, a 438-foot drive to right-center, to cut the lead to 8-6. The Braves added three insurance runs in the ninth, including a two-run double by Heim, to seal the win.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Aaron Civale pitches Athletics past Guardians to avoid sweep
May 3, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics pitcher Aaron Civale (45) throws to a Cleveland Guardians batter during the first inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Scott Marshall-Imagn Images Colby Thomas, Zack Gelof and Tyler Soderstrom hit home runs and Aaron Civale tossed six innings of one-run ball as the Athletics defeated the visiting Cleveland Guardians 7-1 in West Sacramento, Calif., on Sunday.
Jeff McNeil had a team-high three RBIs as the A’s avoided the sweep in the series finale, having lost to Cleveland 8-5 and 14-6 on Friday and Saturday. Tyler Soderstrom went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.
Civale (3-1) had traffic on the bases in every inning of his outing, conceding seven hits and two walks in total, but he kept the damage to a minimum. The Guardians’ only run came courtesy of a Chase DeLauter solo homer in the fifth.
Conversely, Cleveland’s starter Parker Messick (3-1) gave up a season-worst four runs in five innings, striking out six. Opposing hitters had hit only one home run off Messick in 2026, but Thomas’ solo shot to lead off the second was the first of three that he allowed on Sunday.
DeLauter, Kyle Manzardo and Travis Bazzana each recorded a pair of hits for the Guardians.
DeLauter’s homer not only tied the game at 1-1, it extended his hit streak to eight games. It also ended a long power outage for DeLauter, as he had not hit a long ball since April 3 against the Chicago Cubs.
The deadlock was short-lived, as Gelof and Soderstrom went deep back-to-back to open the bottom of the inning. Darell Hernaiz, Jeff McNeil and Brent Rooker followed with singles, with Rooker’s RBI hit scoring Hernaiz to stretch the A’s lead to 4-1.
Guardians reliever Peyton Pallette loaded the bases in the sixth and the A’s were able to double their advantage on McNeil’s three-run double.
Jacob Wilson extended his own eight-game hitting streak with a single in the eighth.
The Athletics’ starting catcher and leading home run hitter Shea Langeliers was out of the lineup after his wife gave birth to their first child on Sunday morning. Manager Mark Kotsay said that Langeliers would return on the A’s upcoming road trip “at a time determined by Shea and the team”.
–Field Level Media
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