The Minnesota Timberwolves started Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals strong with a thrilling 104-102 win over the San Antonio Spurs that was defined by a back-and-forth battle of scoring between the two juggernauts, but even with the win, there's a lot that needs to be improved and addressed for Minnesota.

The biggest issue that the Timberwolves need to address is how to contain Victor Wembanyama. 

Admittedly, the Timberwolves did a great job of handling Wembanyama on the scoring front. The Spurs star scored just 11 points in the game, but on the other side of things, Wembanyama's defensive impact nearly made up for his lack of scoring. 

Wembanyama had a playoff-record 12 blocks along with 15 rebounds in Game 1 and his presence defensively could be felt throughout the game. As long as Wembanyama was on the floor, it seemed like the paint was a hostile environment for the Timberwolves.

That doesn't mean that Minnesota is simply going to back down, though. One of the Timberwolves' many strengths this season has been their aggressiveness at the rim and even with Wembanyama's imposing presence, they don't expect that to change any time soon.

"We're not going to just not attack the basket just because he's [Wembanyama] down there," Randle said (via Timberwolves). "We can be smarter about how we do it... We're not going to let him deter us from attacking the rim... That's one of the areas where we feel like we can be a lot better at and we will be."

Obviously, a tight game like Game 1 shaped out to be means there will be plenty of things to learn from. Minnesota built up a strong lead late in the game, but the Spurs responded just as strongly to make things tight at the very end.

Their own defense and care of the ball needs to be fixed, but more than anything else containing Wembanyama needs to be a priority.

Rudy Gobert has been leading the charge when it comes to shutting down Wembanyama offensively, but limiting his defensive potential needs to be a whole team effort and will likely need some creative offense to draw him away from the paint or at the very least, a constant level of aggression to wear him down. 

The Timberwolves and Spurs have at least three more games to play in their series and the question of shutting down Wembayama will be a constant issue.

One thing is clear though. No matter what Wembayama does or accomplishes, the Timberwolves won't be backing down.