Anthony Edwards scores 36 — 16 in fourth — to lift Timberwolves and tie series

Minnesota’s season was tilting the wrong way. Then Anthony Edwards grabbed the fourth quarter and yanked it back. The Timberwolves beat the Spurs 114-109 in Game 4 on Sunday, May 10, tying their Western Conference semifinal 2-2. Edwards finished with 36 points, and 16 of them came in the last period, when Minnesota finally turned a weird, tense game into a win. The other huge swing came much earlier — Victor Wembanyama was ejected in the second quarter after catching Naz Reid in the neck with an elbow. ### Why was this such a big game? Because 3-1 is a cliff. Minnesota had already dropped Games 2 and 3, and another loss at home would have put the Wolves one defeat from elimination. Instead, they reset the series and forced it into a best-of-three, with Game 5 set for Tuesday, May 12, in San Antonio. (nba.com) ### What actually changed in the fourth? Edwards stopped letting the game drift. He attacked switches, got downhill, and hit enough jumpers to keep San Antonio from loading the paint. The raw number tells the story — 16 fourth-quarter points — but the feel mattered too. Minnesota looked stuck for stretches before that. Then Edwards started playing like every possession belonged to him. (nba.com) ### How big was Wembanyama’s ejection? Massive, but not simple. Wembanyama went out early in the second quarter, which should have made this comfortable for Minnesota. It didn’t. San Antonio stayed in the game anyway, and that’s part of why Edwards sounded more relieved than celebratory afterward — the Wolves knew they nearly wasted a huge break. (nba.com) ### Did Minnesota get help beyond Edwards? Yes — enough to survive. Rudy Gobert gave them 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Naz Reid finished with 15 points and nine boards after taking the hit that led to the ejection. This wasn’t one of those games where Edwards scored 36 and everybody else vanished. Minnesota had just enough support around him to close. (nba.com) ### Why is the scoreline a little misleading? Because a five-point final makes it sound cleaner than it was. Minnesota had the star advantage late, but San Antonio kept hanging around without Wembanyama. That’s the warning sign inside the win. The Wolves got the result they needed, but they didn’t exactly solve the Spurs. They just survived the night with their best player making the biggest plays. (sportsnet.ca) ### What does this mean for Game 5? The pressure swings back to San Antonio, but the emotional edge may have shifted to Minnesota. Edwards now has the freshest signature performance in the series, and the Wolves avoided the kind of loss that can linger for days. But the catch is obvious — if Wembanyama stays on the floor Tuesday, this gets harder fast. (sports.yahoo.com) ### So what’s the real takeaway? This was the Anthony Edwards version of a save. Not a perfect Minnesota performance — more like a star refusing to let the series break. The Wolves didn’t just get a win. They got their margin for error back. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2)