Wolves say Victor Wembanyama’s goaltending call is being missed

San Antonio — Spurs the center Victor Wembanyama Set an NBA playoff record with 12 blocks in Monday night’s Game 1 loss, but Minnesota Timberwolves Adamant that they should not count as one-third.

“At least four of them were in goal,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “Maybe even a fifth. It’s a little worrying to me that none of them have been called.”

The Timberwolves were still glowing after their stunning 104-102 series-opening road win after Tuesday morning’s film session, but Finch, perhaps giving a subtle nudge to the NBA and its officials in the upcoming games against Wembanyama, took the first question of his press scrum to the fore.

“Here’s a generational shot blocker, who’s 7-foot-6 and goes after everything and doesn’t have a heightened awareness that a goaltend can make those blocks?” asked Finch. “The third possession of the game was a goaltend and it was a clear cut.”

The score was still 0-0, Wembanyama swatted a Terence Shannon Jr. Transition drive, but replays show Shannon’s layup attempt clearly hit the backboard before making contact with Wembanyama, which should have resulted in a goaltend.

A handful of other non-goaltending calls that angered the Timberwolves were more borderline, including a second-quarter swat. Naz Reed Hook that way down and could be a first quarter block Rudy Gobert That, at minimum, appears to be a foul.

“Let’s just say there were four (goaltends),” Finch said. “That’s eight points. Do you know the value of eight points in an NBA game? It’s huge. That means 33 percent of his blocks were unintended goaltending. If I gave you a 33 percent raise, you’d love it, wouldn’t you? That’s a huge number.”

Gobert has been teammates with Wembanyama on the French national team and a mentor to the budding superstar, but the two square off in a competitive center matchup in this second round.

“He fouled me in the first one,” Gobert said. “But if you look at them, maybe three or four (goaltends).”

The 7-foot-1 Gobert is 24th all-time in blocks and has long been considered the league’s best rim protector. He had a block in Game 1.

“I wish I had this kind of treatment,” he said.

Game 2 is Wednesday night in San Antonio.