Victor Wembanyama Called Out by Timberwolves for Goaltending

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama had a heroic night on defense, but his efforts fell just short in a 104-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in front of a crowd of 18,827 fans at Frost Bank Center in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals.

Wembanyama scored 11 points to go along with 15 rebounds and five assists. He created 12 blocks, setting an NBA playoff record for blocks in a single game.

The Timberwolves don’t think he should have earned the record, with head coach Chris Finch arguing that four or five of Wembanyama’s blocks should have been called for goaltending, giving Minnesota extra points. Finch said it was “alarming” that NBA officials missed the goaltending calls.

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“Here’s a generational shot blocker, who is 7-foot-6 and goes after everything, and there’s no heightened awareness that these blocks could be a goaltend?” Finch said via ESPN. “The third possession of the game was a goaltend, and it was a clean obvious one… Let’s just say there were four [goaltends}. That’s eight points.

“You know the value of eight points in an NBA game? It’s massive. That means 33% of his blocks were goaltending uncalled. If I were to give you a 33% raise, you’d like that, right? It’s a huge number.”

The officiating crew for Game 1 included Marc Davis, Kevin Scott, Gediminas Petraitis and Andy Nagy.

Videos have circulated on social media of questionable blocks that Wembanyama made that could have been called for goaltending in Game 1.

Via Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints:

Finch made his point loud and clear to reporters on Tuesday. It’s an issue that officials calling Game 2 will need to focus on because those points swatted away can be costly for the Timberwolves.

The Spurs will host Minnesota in Game 2 on Wednesday night.

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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 5:41 PM.