SAN ANTONIO -- The Minnesota Timberwolves' combination of size, strength, and versatility made them a tough matchup for the Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
Especially the size.
The Timberwolves have good positional size all over the court, and plenty of big bodies to throw at San Antonio's rotation of smaller, faster wings. Julius Randle, Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards, and Rudy Gobert make Minnesota one of the longest and strongest groups of players in the league.
The Spurs were clearly missing a big piece on the wing, both figuratively and literally. They needed someone tall with a plus wingspan and fast twitch muscles from the balls of his feet to his brain.
To put it another way, they were clearly missing Carter Bryant.
Bryant missed Game 1 after spraining his rightfoot during the week of practice between Portland and Minnesota, Spurs Head Coach Mitch Johnson said. San Antonio picked Bryant up with an additional lottery pick from Atlanta this past year, and his importance to the team grows at the same rapid pace as his level of skill and comfort.
He went from no playing time, to one game in the G League, to a gradual increase in his minutes in San Antonio, to the Dunk Contest and Rising Stars, to a successful small-ball five experiment, to Mitch Johnson saying that the 20-year-old forward out of Arizona would be a part of his playoff plans.
Johnson said before Monday's Game 1 that Bryant's injury was not feared to be a long-term one. In Tuesday's injury report the Spurs listed him as questionable, and on Wednesday he was upgraded to available.
Here are three ways Carter Bryant will help the Spurs turn the tide against the Timberwolves:
The Spurs' main guards and wings are between 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-6, providing shooting and slashing to go with great speed and a good baseline of height defensively. If there's a weak spot it's that range of big wings and small bigs, and Minnesota exposed that weakness with their own strength in that area.
Julius Randle put up 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Naz Reid led the Timberwolves with a +/- of +15 while logging 12 points with a pair of triples and a eight boards. They did combine for seven turnovers and shoot under 50% from the floor, but while the Spurs made them work for everything they both made an impact on both ends.
Bryant plays a lot bigger than 6-foot-7 with his sturdy-yet-bouncy build and nearly 7-foot wingspan. He can put up a good fight against those guys, and that's especially important when Minnesota gets forced to bench one of their best players.
Whether the Timberwolves want to run all three of Reid, Randle and Rudy, or just one of the smaller two, Carter Bryant is an important piece for San Antonio to counter with.
Rudy Gobert is a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, but in the fourth quarter he played just over a minute, splitting a pair of free throws and heading to the bench. There were a few reasons for this. One was that any more of his free throws would have been bad offense for Minnesota. Another is that given his lack of shooting, Victor Wembanyama could sag all the way to the rim and disrupt everything there, blocking an NBA-playoff-record 12 shots.
The Timberwolves offense scored 35 points in the fourth, their best offensive quarter of the game by 11. With Reid and Randle managing the center minutes, the Timberwolves used the space to generate open looks in the dirty areas and score with brutal efficiency. Minnesota shot 6-9 in the paint and 4-4 from 3 in the fourth.
Bryant is the small-ball center that Mitch Johnson is most comfortable with. One of the bright spots in a late-season, Wemby-less loss to the Nuggets was the opportunity that Bryant had to play center against one of the best bigs the game has ever seen.
"I like the idea of playing small at times, I like the idea playing big at times," Johnson said after that game. "We've been traditional this year, so it's going to be something that's going to be discussed amongst the staff. Different games will have different personalities and different matchups and whatnot, but I think we have seen some positivity when we got small at times, and tonight was probably the largest sample size in a given game."
The Spurs might not necessarily want to play Rudy Gobert off the floor if small-ball remains an advantage for the Timberwolves, but if San Antonio wants to get the big rim protector off the floor, the floor spacing and defensive versatility that Bryant provides could force the issue.
Anthony Edwards made a surprising return after suffering a hyperextended left knee and bone bruise in the previous round, and he looked sharp if not explosive. Even if he's not soaring to the basket, Edwards remains one of the toughest competitors in the sport. The fact that he even considered playing in Game 1 is a testament to that.
He's strong, and fast, and if he's able to get a switch on a traditional center that's never gonna end up good for the traditional center. That's probably a big reason Luke Kornet played just six minutes in the first half of Game 1 and two minutes in the second half.
With Bryant at center, Edwards would go from a favorable switch on those screen and rolls to one that might be worse. That also goes for Jaden McDaniels, Mike Conley, Terrence Shannon Jr., and anyone else who might initiate a pick and roll.
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