Minnesota Timberwolves vs San Antonio Spurs Prediction 5/8/26 NBA Picks Today

The San Antonio Spurs invade the Target Center to battle the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of the West Semifinals on Friday night.

The San Antonio Spurs needed to respond after falling painfully short to the Timberwolves in the series opener and that’s exactly what they did as they dominated the Timberwolves and won by 133-95 in Game 2 on Wednesday. Stephon Castle led the team with 21 points on six of 10 shooting, Victor Wembenyama added 19 points with 15 rebounds and two blocks while De’Aaron Fox chipped in with 16 points. As a team, the Spurs shot 50 percent from the field and 16 of 39 from the 3-point line, but this win was set up by their defense as they put the clamps on right from the start and were never in danger after restricting the Timberwolves to just 35 points in the first half. The Spurs showed no mercy even after taking a 24-point lead at halftime as they kept their foot on the gas pedal to push the margin out to 47 points at one stage.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves were good enough to steal home-court advantage in the series opener, but are now going back to the drawing board after getting humbled by the Spurs in a demoralizing defeat in Game 2 on Wednesday. Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards and Terrence Shannon Jr each scored 12 points while Naz Reid scored 11 points but no other player scored more than eight points. As a team, the Timberwolves shot a miserly 40 percent from the field and nine of 30 from the 3-point line as they failed to keep pace with the Spurs from the start and never even threatened a comeback after scoring just 35 points in the first half. The Timberwolves were sloppy with the ball as they committed 22 turnovers and they shot just 16 of 31 from the free throw line.

The Spurs are still without David Jones Garcia, while the Timberwolves have ruled out Donte DiVincenzo with Ayo Dosunmu and Anthony Edwards listed as a game time decision, but likely to play. The Spurs will be annoyed that they dropped the series opener, but it certainly looked like they got out their frustrations in a dominant Game 2 victory, so the pressure is now on the Timberwolves to bounce back and avoid falling behind in the series. The Timberwolves probably won’t stress about their massive defeat in Game 2 because it’s just so out of character for them and they still hold home-court advantage after all. The Timberwolves’ role players should perform better back in their own building, but I still don’t think it will be enough to hold off the Spurs who are just capable of going on those lengthy runs. With the line so short, give me the Spurs to take the series lead with a narrow win and cover in this spot.