SAN ANTONIO — Mitch Johnson instructed his squad to deny the stakes. By no means should his  San Antonio Spurs  have treated Sunday evening any differently. With the Minnesota Timberwolves up against the wall at home, down 2-1 in the Western Conference Semifinals, they were going to be on a mission. A Spurs win meant taking a 3-1 lead back home with a chance to advance to the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday. None of that mattered within the confines of the Spurs' locker room in Minnesota. Even after falling short 114-109 as the Timberwolves evened the series at two games each. "Every game has a ton of circumstances," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson explained pregame. "Tonight's game is the only game that matters ... and that's that." Through one quarter and three minutes of the second, the Spurs felt they had a handle on Game 4, despite another round of offensive struggles for Victor Wembanyama. That was until the Frenchman decided he'd had enough of the scratching and clawing.…