{"id":650594,"date":"2026-05-05T06:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T06:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/650594\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T06:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T06:30:10","slug":"victor-wembanyama-sets-record-for-blocks-san-antonio-spurs-vs-minnesota-timerwolves-box-score-new-york-knicks-demolish-philadelphia-76ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/650594\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama sets record for blocks, San Antonio Spurs vs Minnesota Timerwolves box score, New York Knicks demolish Philadelphia 76ers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A brutal night saw the Philadelphia 76ers blown off the floor by the New York Knicks, while Victor Wembanyama delivered a first half defensive spectacle for the San Antonio Spurs against the Minnesota Timberwolves, potentially swatting his way into playoff history.<\/p>\n

Watch NBA with ESPN on Kayo Sports | Stream the best of the NBA Playoffs. | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

WEMBANYAMA ON VERGE OF PLAYOFF RECORD<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Victor Wembanyama is putting together one of the most dominant defensive halves you\u2019ll ever see in a playoff game.<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Spurs star, fresh off his first Defensive Player of the Year award, swatted away eight shots in just the first half and extended that to 10 by the end of the third quarter, putting himself within touching distance of NBA playoff history.<\/p>\n

The current record for most blocks in a postseason game is shared by Mark Eaton (1985), Hakeem Olajuwon (1990) and Andrew Bynum (2012), and Wembanyama is now firmly in that conversation.<\/p>\n

Playoff block record is 10 by Mark Eaton (1985), Hakeem Olajuwon (1990), and Andrew Bynum (2012)Source: getty<\/p>\n

Midway through the third, Victor Wembanyama is still sitting on eight blocks, but continues to impact the game across the board.<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Spurs star has added 8 points and 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes, leading the charge against the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

KNICKS END 76ERS PARTY<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia 76ers barely had time to celebrate their Game 7 comeback from 3\u20131 down against the Boston Celtics before being brought straight back to reality.<\/p>\n

In a matchup packed with hype, centred around the long-running rivalry between Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns, it was the New York Knicks who took complete control early and never let go.<\/p>\n

New York set the tone with a 33-25 opening quarter and went on to lead for 91% of the game, stretching the margin to as much as 40 points in a dominant 39-point win. Jalen Brunson was outstanding, pouring in 35 points on 12-of-18 shooting in just 31 minutes, while Towns added 17 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. No Knicks starter played more than 31 minutes in the blowout.<\/p>\n

For Philadelphia, the struggles were clear. They shot just 41% from the field, turned the ball over 19 times and allowed 16 fast-break points. Embiid, coming off a dominant series against Boston, was held to just 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting.<\/p>\n

PLAYOFFS TALKING PTS: How \u2018disaster\u2019 could spark all-in trade; Aussie\u2019s brutal $100m lesson<\/a><\/p>\n

New York Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns, right, fouls Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid. (AP Photo\/Seth Wenig)Source: AP<\/p>\n

The 76ers even turned to a \u201chack-a-Mitch\u201d strategy early, repeatedly fouling Mitchell Robinson, who missed four straight free throws, but the tactic had little impact as the Knicks surged to a 74\u201351 lead by half-time.<\/p>\n

Head coach Nick Nurse was blunt in his assessment post-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefensively, we just seemed like we were chasing everything. Didn\u2019t guard the ball well enough. Didn\u2019t contest shooters well enough. I mean, they were, obviously, picking us apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Game 2 is set for Thursday, 7 May at 9:00am AEST.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A brutal night saw the Philadelphia 76ers blown off the floor by the New York Knicks, while Victor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-650594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}