By Jon Krawczynski, Jared Weiss and David Carrillo Peñaloza | The Athletic, 2026-05-11 02:24:18
周日，明尼苏达森林狼队只需面对维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 12分钟。
随着这位身高7英尺4英寸的球星在第二节进行到3分半钟时被驱逐，作为6号种子的森林狼队在标靶中心球馆举行的第四场比赛中，仍需通过逆转才以114-109击败了缺少文班亚马的圣安东尼奥马刺队，将这轮西部半决赛的总比分扳成2-2平。
带伤出战的安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) 连续第二场首发，为森林狼队砍下36分。纳兹·里德 (Naz Reid) 贡献了15分和9个篮板，他似乎让文班亚马感到非常沮丧。
文班亚马被驱逐出场，原因是在第二节还剩8分39秒时，他挥动右肘击中了里德的喉部。当时森林狼以36-34领先，随着里德两罚全中，领先优势扩大到4分。半场结束时，明尼苏达以60-56领先。
在文班亚马离场后，明尼苏达不得不奋力反击，因为在比赛还剩不到9分钟时，他们一度以86-94落后。但爱德华兹挺身而出，在第四节狂砍16分带队冲锋，森林狼队在收官阶段打出了关键表现。
“当文班不在场时，我们必须抓住机会，”爱德华兹在终场哨响后告诉NBC的佐拉·史蒂芬森 (Zora Stephenson)，“你知道，我们上场时以为这会很容易，但那些家伙真的很棒，即使没有文班也是如此。所以我们仍然必须打得努力，我必须挺身而出，努力带队取胜。”
迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 替补出场为2号种子马刺队贡献了24分，马刺队将于周二回到主场进行第五场比赛。达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 同样得到24分，斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 得到20分。
以下是第四场比赛的一些关键要点：
安东尼·爱德华兹救主
肩负着森林狼队的未来，在赛季生死存亡之际，爱德华兹打出了一波令人瞠目结舌的得分高潮，扳平了系列赛，避免了一场灾难性的失利。
森林狼在末节初段落后8分，面对缺少文班亚马但防守顽强的马刺队，他们一度找不到应对办法。双膝都有伤的爱德华兹通过一次强硬的突破、一记急停跳投和两记关键三分球，帮助森林狼反超比分。他在比赛还剩两分多钟时的补篮让森林狼领先4分，随后森林狼稳扎稳打守住了胜果。
在他被选中后为这支球队效力的所有高光时刻中，这一次绝对名列前茅。森林狼当时已陷入绝境。如果他们以1-3落后，几乎没有机会能逆转赢得系列赛。
比赛还剩4分钟时，爱德华兹在暂停期间下场吸氧，并在余下的时间里为球队注入了活力。森林狼需要他在第四节拿下的每一分，而且在接下来的系列赛中，他们还需要他付出更多。
森林狼仍然应该感到忧虑，因为即便文班亚马因被驱逐仅出场12分钟，他们也没能拉开比分。但在系列赛战成2-2平的情况下，这些问题更好解决。
标靶中心本赛季的篮球比赛还没有结束。正是因为爱德华兹 (Ant)，才有了第六场比赛。—— 乔恩·克劳钦斯基 (Jon Krawczynski)，森林狼资深撰稿人
文班亚马震惊全场的驱逐会有后续影响吗？
当文班亚马的肘部击中里德颈部的那一刻，他被驱逐就已成定局。马刺队差一点就完成了赛季最佳胜利，但森林狼队的硬实力最终占据了上风。
马刺在半场休息时想出了在没有文班亚马的情况下如何进攻，并在第三节彻底扭转了局面。他们的三名控球后卫能够随意在禁区得分，而且在下半场开始后的大部分时间里，球队的防守都非常出色。
问题出现在第四节后半段，当马刺的底线协防者不得不上前阻止爱德华兹或朱利叶斯·兰德尔 (Julius Randle) 时，森林狼的其他大个子能够空切到防守身后冲抢篮板。马刺无法创造出太多的三分机会，这在最后几分钟需要追分时让他们付出了代价。他们的全场紧逼防守证明了最后反扑的可能性，但马刺确实没有足够的投射能力或防守体型来应对爱德华兹带领森林狼反超。
现在他们正在等待对文班亚马二级恶意犯规的复核，看他是否会在第五场比赛中被禁赛。当他在场时，马刺似乎占据上风，但森林狼现在已经正式回到了系列赛的竞争中。—— 贾里德·韦斯 (Jared Weiss)，马刺随队记者
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Anthony Edwards saves the day as Timberwolves tie series after Victor Wembanyama's ejection
Anthony Edwards saves the day as Timberwolves tie series after Victor Wembanyama’s ejection
The Minnesota Timberwolves only had to face Victor Wembanyama for 12 minutes Sunday.
With the 7-foot-4 star’s ejection 3 1/2 minutes into the second quarter, the No. 6-seeded Timberwolves still had to rally to beat the Wembanyama-less San Antonio Spurs 114-109 in Game 4 at Target Center, evening this Western Conference semifinal series at 2.
Anthony Edwards, playing with knee pain, started for the second straight game and finished with 36 points for the Timberwolves. Naz Reid added 15 points and nine rebounds, and he appeared to frustrate Wembanyama.
Wembanyama got tossed after he swung his right elbow and hit Reid’s throat with 8:39 left in the second quarter. The Wolves led 36-34 at the time, and with Reid making both flagrant free throws, the lead grew to four. Minnesota went into halftime ahead 60-56.
Minnesota had to battle back after Wembanyama departed, as it trailed 94-86 with under nine minutes left in the game. But Edwards led the way with a big 16-point fourth quarter, and the Timberwolves made the key plays down the stretch.
“We got to capitalize when Wemby’s out of the game,” Edwards told NBC’s Zora Stephenson after the final buzzer. “You know, we came out thinking like it was gonna be easy, but those guys are really good, even without Wemby. And so we still had to play hard, and I had to just take it upon myself and try to get us to win.”
Dylan Harper came off the bench and scored 24 points for the No. 2 Spurs, who will host Game 5 on Tuesday. De’Aaron Fox added 24 points and Stephon Castle had 20 points.
Here are some key takeaways from Game 4:
Anthony Edwards to the rescue
With the Wolves franchise on his back and the season on the line, Edwards delivered a jaw-dropping flurry of scoring to tie the series and avoid a disaster of a loss.
Minnesota trailed by eight points early in the final quarter and couldn’t find any answers for the feisty, Wembanyama-less Spurs defense. Playing on two bad knees, Edwards scored on a tough drive, a pull-up jumper and hit two big 3s to push the Wolves in front. His putback with just over two minutes to play gave the Wolves a four-point lead, and the Wolves held on from there.
Of all of his big moments for this franchise since being drafted, this one ranks near the top. The Wolves were dead in the water. Had they fallen behind 3-1, there was almost no chance they could come back to win the series.
Edwards stepped off the floor during a timeout to take some oxygen with four minutes to play, and breathed life into the team the rest of the way. The Wolves needed every one of his 16 fourth-quarter points, and they will need a heck of a lot more from him the rest of the way in this series.
The Wolves still should have major concerns, given they weren’t able to pull away with Wembanyama limited to just 12 minutes because of the ejection. But those concerns are better addressed with the series 2-2.
Target Center has not seen its last basketball game of the season. Game 6 will be played because of Ant. — Jon Krawczynski, Timberwolves senior writer
Will there be fallout from Wembanyama’s shocking ejection?
As soon as Wembanyama landed that elbow on Reid’s neck, his ejection was inevitable. The Spurs came so close to pulling off the win of the season, but the Wolves’ power won out in the end.
The Spurs figured out how they wanted to attack without Wembanyama at halftime and completely flipped the game in the third quarter. Their three point guards were able to score in the paint at will, and the team’s defense was fantastic for most of the time after the teams came out from the locker room.
The problem came later in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs’ low man defender had to step up to stop Edwards or Julius Randle and the Wolves’ other bigs were able to cut behind the defense to clean everything up on the glass. The Spurs couldn’t create many 3s, and it bit them when they needed to come back in the final minutes. Their pressing defense proved to be vital in making one last gasp even possible, but the Spurs just didn’t have the shooting or defensive size to handle Edwards leading the Wolves back into this one.
Now they await a review of Wembanyama’s flagrant to see if he will be hit with a suspension for Game 5. The Spurs appear to have the upper hand when he’s out there, but the Wolves are now officially back in the series. — Jared Weiss, Spurs staff writer
By Jon Krawczynski, Jared Weiss and David Carrillo Peñaloza, via The Athletic