Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 5.13.26
Wild must win tonight to stay alive. Puck drop for Game 5 in Denver is 7 p.m. Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin didn’t even travel due to their respective injuries.
Loons host Colorado tonight.
Wolves Embarrass Wolves in Game 5
Any Wolves fans who questioned Victor Wembanyama as Defensive Player of the Year is getting a front row seat as to the why.
Minnesota barely even braved the paint when Wemby was in the game, as the Spurs rolled to a 126-97 win over the Wolves in Game 5. San Antonio leads 3-2 and can advance to the conference final on Friday at Target Center. The Wolves did recover from a terrible loss against Denver two seasons ago in Game 5 and went on to win the series.
Wembanyama was a +24, scoring 27 points to go along with 17 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. But his real effect on the game came on defense. The Wolves routinely settled for 3-point shots (9-for-33). Julius Randle, who’s been awful this series, went 6-for-17 from the field. Outside of Ayo Dosunmu in transition (16 points), the Wolves had nothing.
They trailed by double digits in each of the first three quarters, made a run to get within two points or to be even, and immediately fell apart.
Randle is an issue. I can’t remember the last time he won a 50-50 ball with hustle. Minnesota was outscored by 22 points with Randle on the floor. Rudy Gobert, so good against Joker and Denver, has been a non factor. He took four shots in 23 minutes and grabbed only five rebounds. He even had a shot blocked by 6-foor-5 Keldon Johnson.
The Wolves looked like a team that needed a break, and now they do get two days off for the first time in this series. I’d get them away from the gym today to clear their minds and then come back hard tomorrow with a solid game plan for Friday.
Frost Won’t Repeat as Champs
What a difference a day makes.
Montreal was too sick to play a deciding Game 5 on Monday, but miraculously recovered for a 2-1 win Tuesday to assure the PWHL a new champion in 2026.
Flat out, the Frost wasn’t good enough in this series, but a sour taste for sure how it went down.
Scoring was an issue since Game 1. Taylor Heise had two assists and no goals all series. Montreal was the No. 1 seed for a reason, after all. The Victoire is actually the first team in three PWHL seasons to win a series as a better seed. Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored the game-winner early in the third period.
Ober’s 89-Pitch Shutout, Buxton’s Steal of Home Power Twins
It was unofficially turn back the clock night at Target Field.
Two rarely ever seen feats that used to happen regularly - a complete-game shutout and a steal of home - led the Twins to a 3-0 win over Miami. Minnesota has won three in a row for the first time in a month.
Bailey Ober was Greg Maddux-like. He only needed 89 pitches to get all 27 outs. It marked his first career shutout. The Twins have three complete games the last three seasons - all by Ober, who lowered his ERA to 3.46.
And Byron Buxton, who would have fit in well in the 1980’s and 1990’s, stole home for the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. Ryan Jeffers, who is flirting with the .300 mark and is due for a huge day, belted his sixth home run in the same inning for the final margin.
Same teams again tonight as Simeon Woods-Richardson (0-5, 6.92 ERA) looks to turn around his nightmare start.
Lynx Beat Mercury for First Win
A balanced scoring attack led Minnesota to its first win of the season, 88-84, over Phoenix late last night.
Natasha Howard and Kayla McBride each scored 14 points, and Nia Coffey added 13 including a big 3-pointer in the final 30 seconds. Rookie Olivia Miles had 13 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
The Lynx visit Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings tomorrow.
Tell a friend to sign up for The Takeout today: https://cutt.ly/5jc87CG
Sponsor The Takeout
Sponsorship packages are available! The Takeout is a great spot to advertise your small business. Get thousands of eyeballs on your product every month. E-mail ryanstanzel@gmail.com
NETWORK PARTNERS
