Stephon Castle kept the San Antonio Spurs close in Game 4, finishing with 20 points, six rebounds and four assists even as Minnesota evened the Western Conference semifinals at 2-2. Now the series shifts to San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday night, with the Spurs scheduled to host the Timberwolves at 8:10 p.m. ET.
The Spurs need Castle to keep carrying that load if they want to push the series back in their favor. He is the 2024-25 Rookie of the Year, and his production in Game 4 offered San Antonio another scoring option in a matchup that has tightened into a grind.
That game also showed how hard Minnesota can make life on the ball. Jaden McDaniels spent 40.6 partial possessions guarding Castle, part of a Timberwolves defense that finished in the top 10 in defensive rating for a fourth straight regular season. Even with some of Minnesota’s best defenders not primarily assigned to Castle, the rookie still had to work for every look.
The numbers around Game 5 reflect how firmly the Spurs are expected to control the next step at home. San Antonio opened as a 10.5-point favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the total set at 218.5. That line suggests the market expects the Spurs to respond quickly after the Game 4 loss and take advantage of a Minnesota group that is still missing Donte DiVincenzo, who tore his Achilles in the first round and is out for the season.
The other pressure point is on Minnesota’s offense, where Julius Randle ranked in the 49th percentile in points saved per 100 possessions. The Timberwolves did enough to level the series, but their margin remains thin if San Antonio’s defense forces the same kind of uneven shot chart that defined stretches of Game 4. Castle’s line mattered because he gave the Spurs a steady presence when the game tightened late, and that is the sort of output they may need again.
For San Antonio, the task is simple and demanding: win Game 5, then find one more. The Spurs effectively need the next two games to maximize their chances of getting past Minnesota and setting up a meeting with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which makes Tuesday night more than just a home game. It is the series’ hinge point, and Castle is right at the center of it.
