Friday eliminated one series and extended another. In Minneapolis, Stephon Castle delivered the signature game of his young career — 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists on 11-of-16 shooting — as San Antonio blew out Minnesota 139-109 on a 20-0 second-quarter run that buried Target Center, eliminating the Timberwolves and setting up a Western Conference Finals date with Oklahoma City. Then in Cleveland, the Pistons handed the Cavaliers their first home loss of the postseason — Detroit winning 115-94 on the back of 20 Cleveland turnovers, 13 offensive rebounds converted into 20 points, and a third-quarter Sasser layup at the buzzer that pushed the lead to 14 and drained all remaining resistance. Game 7 is Sunday in Detroit. In the West, it's done: Spurs versus Thunder.

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San Antonio Spurs 139, Minnesota Timberwolves 109

Minnesota needed their best game of the series. They needed Anthony Edwards to carry them, needed Gobert and Randle to show up in the paint, needed a crowd and an urgency that would force San Antonio to play uncomfortable basketball in a building that had been one of their most difficult environments all series. What they got instead was Stephon Castle's best night as a professional athlete and a 20-0 run in the second quarter that turned the game into a formality before the third minute of the second period was over.

Castle was extraordinary from the opening tip — five of his first six shots fell, three of them from three-point range, and he had 11 points before the first quarter ended. Fox opened the scoring with a three and immediately set the attacking tone that Mitch Johnson has preached all series. San Antonio went on a 12-4 run in the first quarter while Wembanyama's defensive presence disrupted every Minnesota action in the half-court. Then in the second quarter, the Spurs opened on a 20-0 run — one of the three largest in the franchise's postseason history in the play-by-play era — that pushed the lead to 29 while Target Center went silent and Finch burned his timeouts trying to find something, anything, that would slow San Antonio's guards. Nothing did. The lead reached 34 in the first half.

Castle finished with 32 points on 11-of-16 shooting, 5-of-7 from three, with 11 rebounds and 6 assists — 4 assists shy of a triple-double and the kind of complete performance that will be the entry point in the conversation about what he becomes. Fox supplied 20 points and the attacking downhill playmaking that creates gravity for every Spurs action. Wembanyama scored efficiently and defensively dominated in the way he has done all series — his presence distorting Minnesota's offense even when the ball wasn't near him. Harper contributed 15 points off the bench. The Spurs shot 53 percent from the field.

Minnesota's night was brutal in its specifics. Edwards had 24 points on 9-of-26 shooting — the volume was there, the efficiency wasn't, and when the deficit reached 20 he was pushing into contested mid-range looks rather than generating clean ones. Gobert and Randle combined for 3 points on 1-of-12 from the field in an elimination game (with Gobert scoring 0 points and gathered only 3 rebounds), which is the most concise statistical summary of why this series ended tonight rather than in a Game 7. McDaniels shot 4-of-13. Nobody else offered a consistent answer. Dosunmu had a few second-quarter minutes of energy. Reid gave the home crowd a moment with a third-quarter three that briefly cut it to 12 before San Antonio went back up by 30 with under 10 minutes to play. The Timberwolves' season ends having taken the Spurs to six games, having won Game 1 on the road in one of the series' better performances, won Game 4 after Wemby was ejected, and having spent the rest of the series finding out what it means to play against a healthy Wembanyama operating at full capacity.

San Antonio advances to the Western Conference Finals to face Oklahoma City. Game 1 is Monday.

SAS 139 · MIN 109

Detroit Pistons 115, Cleveland Cavaliers 94

Cleveland had not lost at home in the 2026 playoffs. Through six home games — four first-round wins, two against Detroit — they had gone 6-0. That streak ended Friday with a performance that had the Cavaliers looking like a team that never quite arrived, turning the ball over 20 times and watching Detroit convert those into 28 points while getting outrebounded on the offensive glass. They were getting outworked in multiple ways, which is a recipe for disaster — especially in a close-out game on home court.

The first quarter had Cleveland fighting and finding rhythm early, but Detroit opened a 21-4 run bridging the first and second quarters — trapping Cleveland's guards and watching Harden throw it away on consecutive possessions — that gave the Pistons a double-digit lead by midway through the second. The Cavaliers clawed back, cutting it to three at the half behind Harden's two threes and Mitchell going 13 by intermission. It felt like the template of Cleveland's Game 5 comeback was forming. It was not. The Pistons came out of the locker room on a 12-2 run — Cunningham hitting a three to start it, Jenkins with another, Robinson with two free throws, Duren blocking a Harden floater and then getting a Thompson putback dunk — that pushed the lead back to 13. Cleveland rallied to 74-68, the building coming alive one final time. But Detroit answered with a 13-2 spurt of their own. The building didn't make much noise after that.

Cunningham led Detroit with 21 points and shot a remarkable 5-of-10 from three — his best three-point shooting performance of the series — adding 8 assists and the calm leadership that has defined his postseason. Duren bounced back from Game 5's difficult performance with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks, scoring inside with decisive authority and grabbing 4 offensive rebounds himself. Jenkins added 15 points including a third-quarter three off a LeVert pass that extended the lead to 16. Robinson returned from lower-back soreness to hit 4-of-7 from three for 14 points, the outside shooting that makes Detroit's offense so difficult to scheme against. Reed gave them 17 off the bench. Ausar Thompson contributed 10 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals before fouling out in the fourth. Sasser added 9 points including that buzzer layup that finished the argument.

Harden led Cleveland with 23 points — passing Stephen Curry on the all-time postseason scoring list with a first-quarter step-back three — but shot 3-of-8 from three and committed 8 of the Cavaliers' 20 turnovers. Mitchell and Mobley had 18 apiece; neither was able to recreate the moments that had defined their individual Games 3 and 4. This was the first home loss of the Cavaliers' 2026 playoff run, and it came in the worst possible game to absorb it. Cleveland is still a win away from the conference finals. But they have to get it Sunday at Little Caesars Arena, where the Detroit faithful will be loud.

DET leads series 3-3. Game 7 is Sunday in Detroit.

DET 115 · CLE 94

Friday closed the West's second round and left the East's hanging by a thread. San Antonio's story is now about what comes next — a Western Conference Finals against Oklahoma City, the two teams with the best records in the league, a matchup between the defending champion and the most dominant young player in the sport. Castle's 32 points on Friday announced him as a legitimate third star in a rotation that already has Wembanyama and Fox. The Spurs are fully assembled.

The Cavaliers-Pistons story is about what's left. Two teams, one game, all of it in Detroit on Sunday. Cleveland has won every home game. Detroit has won every home game. The pattern has held all series: whoever is on their floor wins. If it holds in Game 7, Cunningham and the Pistons advance to face the Knicks. If it breaks for the first time, Mitchell and the Cavaliers do. Seven games. Twelve wins between them. All of it, somehow, coming down to one.

Stud of the Day: Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs — 32 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists on 11-of-16 shooting with five threes in an elimination game on the road. He had 11 points before the first quarter ended. He was part of a 20-0 run that broke Target Center before halftime. He is a second-year player. He is 21 years old. He is going to the Western Conference Finals.

Dud of the Night: Cleveland Cavaliers (team) — 20 turnovers generating 28 Detroit points and outworked on the offensive glass contributing 20 more. Their first home loss of the postseason, in a game they couldn't afford to lose. Harden turned it over eight times. The Cavaliers who beat Detroit in Games 3, 4, and 5 did not show up Friday. Game 7 is Sunday in Detroit. They need to find their road warrior mentality back from Game 5.