Minnesota Timberwolves – San Antonio Spurs · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 27 January 2024

MIN112–113SAS

Is it worth watching?

Recommended

It was more exciting than 53% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ SAS winsMIN wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when SAS leads and falls when MIN does.

This is how the game was decided.

Devin Vassell decided it, the San Antonio Spurs player with the most points (25, with 4 rebounds and 5 assists; -9 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Victor Wembanyama's (+19). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in San Antonio Spurs 113-112 Minnesota Timberwolves (January 27, 2024) was hit by Keldon Johnson: a free throw with 9.0 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the San Antonio Spurs up 113-112. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of San Antonio Spurs 113-112 Minnesota Timberwolves (January 27, 2024) was a 12-0 run by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first quarter (from 6:18 to 2:40), from 17-20 to 29-20. The San Antonio Spurs' best was a 9-0 run between the third quarter and the fourth quarter, from 78-90 to 87-90.

What were the keys of the last San Antonio Spurs vs Minnesota Timberwolves game?

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Keldon Johnson makes free throw 1 of 2.

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Keldon Johnson decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 9 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 3 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Johnson decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

27 January 2024 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401585277:615; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · MIN

Edwards · Gobert · Alexander-Walker · McDaniels · Towns

Closing lineup · SAS

Vassell · Sochan · Wembanyama · Jones · Johnson

Q1Q2Q3Q4

MIN

Anthony Edwards

38′ · +7

Rudy Gobert

37′ · -4

Nickeil Alexander-Walker

33′ · +2

Jaden McDaniels

33′ · +11

Karl-Anthony Towns

32′ · -14

Naz Reid

22′ · +5

Kyle Anderson

19′ · -5

Shake Milton

16′ · +4

Jordan McLaughlin

9′ · -11

SAS

Devin Vassell

36′ · -9

Jeremy Sochan

31′ · -3

Victor Wembanyama

30′ · +19

Tre Jones

29′ · +18

Julian Champagnie

18′ · +1

Keldon Johnson

27′ · 0

Blake Wesley

20′ · -17

Dominick Barlow

18′ · -18

Cedi Osman

16′ · +3

Doug McDermott

17′ · +11

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. MIN and SAS.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Towns, Alexander-Walker, Edwards, McDaniels, and Gobert played 19.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Alexander-Walker, Reid, Edwards, McDaniels, and Gobert played 5.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.
Towns, Milton, McLaughlin, Gobert, and Anderson played 3.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 7 points.

San Antonio Spurs

Vassell, Jones, Champagnie, Sochan, and Wembanyama played 13.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.
Osman, Johnson, Jones, Wembanyama, and McDermott played 7.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 13 points.
Johnson, Vassell, Wesley, Sochan, and Barlow played 4.9 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Minnesota Timberwolves

Towns, Milton, Alexander-Walker, McDaniels, and Gobert played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.
Milton, McLaughlin, Reid, Edwards, and Anderson played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.
Milton, McLaughlin, Reid, Gobert, and Anderson played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 8 points.
Towns, Alexander-Walker, Reid, Edwards, and Anderson played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Milton, Reid, Edwards, McDaniels, and Anderson played 2.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.
Reid, Edwards, McDaniels, Gobert, and Anderson played 1.9 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Towns, Milton, Reid, Edwards, and Anderson played 1.9 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Towns, Alexander-Walker, Reid, Edwards, and McDaniels played 1.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Alexander-Walker, Reid, Edwards, Gobert, and Anderson played 1.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.

San Antonio Spurs

Osman, Johnson, Champagnie, Wesley, and Barlow played 4.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Johnson, Vassell, Jones, Sochan, and Wembanyama played 3.4 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Vassell, Wesley, Sochan, Wembanyama, and McDermott played 2.9 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Johnson, Vassell, Jones, Sochan, and Barlow played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Osman, Johnson, Vassell, Wesley, and Barlow played 2.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 7 points.
Vassell, Wesley, Sochan, Barlow, and McDermott played 1.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Johnson, Vassell, Wesley, Wembanyama, and McDermott played 1.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Vassell, Jones, Sochan, Barlow, and McDermott played 1.6 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Devin Vassell covered 4.41 km, more than anyone in the game.

Anthony Edwards touched the ball 82 times, a game high.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker made 65 passes, a game high.
Victor Wembanyama defended 11 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 8.

▸See what was measured for each player

Minnesota Timberwolves

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Rudy Gobert	4.34	6.7	46	31
Anthony Edwards	4.30	6.3	82	59
Jaden McDaniels	4.28	7.3	40	34
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	4.15	7.2	73	65
Karl-Anthony Towns	3.59	6.3	49	26
Naz Reid	2.67	6.9	34	19
Kyle Anderson	2.27	6.6	35	25
Shake Milton	2.06	7.2	25	18
Jordan McLaughlin	1.27	8.1	20	17

San Antonio Spurs

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Devin Vassell	4.41	6.9	58	40
Jeremy Sochan	3.72	6.8	43	27
Victor Wembanyama	3.62	6.9	57	30
Tre Jones	3.52	7.0	64	51
Keldon Johnson	3.15	6.6	48

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2023-24 regular season, not this game.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Rudy Gobert defended 7.8 shots at the rim per game over his 76 games, and opponents made 13 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 2 of 146 in the league.
Anthony Edwards recovered 0.9 loose balls per game over his 78 games.
He ranks 18 of 373 in the league.
Karl-Anthony Towns contested 7.4 shots per game over his 62 games.
He ranks 31 of 373 in the league.

San Antonio Spurs

Victor Wembanyama deflected 2.9 passes per game over his 71 games.
He ranks 12 of 373 in the league.
Tre Jones drew 0.11 charges per game over his 76 games.
He ranks 35 of 373 in the league.
Jeremy Sochan contested 6.6 shots per game over his 74 games.
He ranks 43 of 373 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The San Antonio Spurs have won 76 of their 122 games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

76-46record of the San Antonio Spurs · NBA 1996-97 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

1-2in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1996-97 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

17.726

96.6% of capacity

Frost Bank Center · San Antonio

Scoring

225

combined points

3.4 below the season average (228.4)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

13 calls reviewed2 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Offensive · 00:52.4

Devin Vassell → Rudy Gobert

Vassell (SAS) does not give a step of distance as he attempts to establish himself in Gobert's (MIN) path, and illegal contact occurs that affects his ability to defend.

Foul: Defense 3 Second · 01:27.0

Nickeil Alexander-Walker → Spurs

Alexander-Walker (MIN) is in the paint for longer than three seconds without imminently actively guarding an opponent.