Wembanyama taught Timberwolves a painful lesson NBA better be watching

As the Spurs and Timberwolves series settles into San Antonio's clutches, there's one falsehood that rival fans are now forced to put to bed: "Wemby is soft." There's no telling where that accusation came from because he's been anything but weak since entering the league. Regardless of origin, he just emphatically shut down that erroneous narrative at Minnesota's expense.

The first fascinating part of the exchange above between The Athletic's Jared Weiss and Wembanyama was when Weiss said he was "excited" by the physicality against Houston back in January. If that were a false statement, Vic would have corrected him.

The Alien is not normal. He may be thin, but he's far from feeble. The Timberwolves just learned that the hard way, and if the other NBA teams know what's good for them, they'll be paying attention and cowering.

Wembanyama plays the physical game as well as the mental one

The label "soft" can be a double-edged sword. Some guys get roughed up, and because of their frustration, they lose their edge. That can lead to a spiraling effect as the opposing team takes advantage of the lapse in focus. The Timberwolves tried to do that to Vic last night. It was clearly part of their plan.

They weren't just trying to make up for the incredible size difference; they wanted to get in Wembanyama's head while dealing with some frustration of their own. Anthony Edwards was pulling the Frenchman's jersey when he was trying to run the floor, Rudy Gobert was yanking his arm to stop him from blocking shots, and guys were routinely trying to push him around, whether he had the ball or not.

You'd see No. 1 look at the ref and even quickly communicate the foul, but he never let those things build in his mind. He remained dedicated to the goal of dominating and flipping home-court advantage back in San Antonio's favor. 39 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 blocks later, he did just that. At this point, the Timberwolves are all out of answers, and this series is pretty much over.

The Thunder are going to do the same things Minnesota has tried in the conference finals. They're the most physical team in the league, and the refs let them get away with very aggressive play. However, the Silver and Black won't be intimidated by that. They're a physical team in their own right, and the 7'4" Mind Flayer in the paint won't be deterred by their antics.

They won't be able to cheap-shot or flop their way to victory against the Spurs. OKC will need to figure out how to solve the Wembanyama puzzle and beat them straight up. Considering San Antonio has only lost three games total with Wemby in the lineup since February 1, that's become an increasingly difficult task.

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