The NBA announced the schedule for the second round of the playoffs on Thursday, setting up the Spurs vs Timberwolves matchup in the Western Conference semifinals. San Antonio will face Minnesota after advancing past the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 5 of the first round.
For the Spurs, the series marks their first trip to the Western Conference semifinals since 2017. That gap gives the matchup added weight for San Antonio, which now has a chance to move deeper into the postseason after finishing off Portland.
The Spurs reached this stage by eliminating the Trail Blazers in Game 5, and the league’s schedule release formally locked in what comes next. The Timberwolves now await a San Antonio team trying to return to the level it last reached eight years ago, with the Western Conference semifinals set around a matchup that carries both immediate stakes and recent history.
What happens next is straightforward: the teams play on the schedule the NBA put out Thursday, and the winner moves closer to the conference finals. For San Antonio, the more meaningful number may be 2017, the last time it was this far into the Western Conference bracket.