The Minnesota Timberwolves suffered another blowout loss against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals, the second such blowout of the series for Minnesota, and much of what went into that loss was the historic performance of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama. 

Wembanyama was eager to be back on the court and make an impact after committing a Flagrant-2 foul in Game 4 that led to his ejection, meaning he could only watch as the Timberwolves surged to a win and evened the series at two games apiece. 

In Game 5, Wembanyama made sure that he didn't just stay on the court, but he made a game-changing impact. Wembanyama scored 27 points on 9-16 shooting while adding 17 rebounds, five assists and three blocks, becoming the third-youngest player in NBA playoff history to record 25+ points, 15+ rebounds and 5+ assists in a game.

Wembanyama was unstoppable on the court and his performance set the tone for what became a dominant display for the entire Spurs team and for the Timberwolves, their simply wasn't any way for them to slow down the Spurs star. 

"Tonight, some of the stuff that Wemby was doing, you don’t really have too much of an answer for," Anthony Edwards said (via Timberwolves). "Just kind of hope he misses. But, he came out hot. He made a bunch of shots."

This series has revealed a running trend for the Spurs: when Webanyama takes off, so do the Spurs. 

For the Timberwolves to have a chance at staving off elimination in the next two games, they'll need to do whatever they can to limit the efforts of the Spurs star.

In the first game of the series, which the Timberwolves won by a score of 104-102, while Wembanyama still had a dominant game on the defensive end, he was mostly contained on the offensive end. 

Replicating that kind of result is what the Timberwolves need to do again to keep the series alive.

Both Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle will be the biggest pieces of that defensive effort and eve if Wembanyama may not be able to be slowed down when it comes to his defensive effort, keeping his offensive contributions at bay will have to be top priority. 

Only time will tell if the Timberwolves are going to be able to slow down Wembanyama, especially now that he's been emboldened by his historic performance, but Minnesota's season will hang in a precarious place if Wembanyama remians able to have his run of the series.