Wolves Cruise Past Thunder

Wolves Postgame Audio
Kevin McHale

Randy Foye

Al Jefferson

Kevin Love

Sometimes the basket looks like an ocean and Randy Foye certainly proved that theory in the Wolves 123-79 victory over the Thunder on Wednesday night. Foye treated the Target Center crowd to a 26-point first half performance to lead Minnesota to its fourth straight win.

"He's a dynamic very strong very quick player," head coach Kevin McHale said. "His jump shot has really improved and he's playing with confidence and he's turning the corner."

Foye tied a career-high with 32 points in the game on 10-of-16 shooting from the field along with 6-of-9 from the 3-point line and Minnesota has now won six of its last eight games. The Wolves stormed out to a 9-2 run to start the game and hit 75 percent from the field in the first quarter with 42 points, just one-point shy of a franchise record. Minnesota scored a season-high 72 points in the first half in a thoroughly dominant game to improve to 10-25 on the season.

"Well, they played very well, needless to say. They started out hot and stayed hot, they maintained their focus and played an excellent game. It was a lot of fun to be part of that game," McHale said.

The Wolves focused on a strong third and fourth quarter to avoid a collapse that was seen in Dallas last week. The Wolves stomped on the throat of the opponent behind 62 points in the paint and 52.2 percent shooting from the field.

With the sparkling scoring display from Foye, Al Jefferson needed only 29 minutes of time on the court and finished with 21 points. Jefferson joined Kevin Love with a double-double as the rookie from UCLA hauled down 15 rebounds to go along with 16 points.

"I've said all along, this is a really good group of guys," McHale said. "We've been blessed with a great group of guys, they're very resilient and good out there and they play hard and they practice hard."

The other UCLA rookie, Russell Westbrook led Oklahoma City with 16 points and a career-high, 12 assists in the loss that dropped the Thunder to a league-worst 5-31 on the season. In fact, the only statistical category that favored Oklahoma City was the fast break points.

The former No. 2 overall pick, Kevin Durant struggled for most of the evening by only shooting 3-of-13 from the field and nine points. Oklahoma City played Nenad Kristic for the first time this season after signing the free agent out of Russia on December 30. Nick Collison also recorded minutes despite a thumb injury that sidelined him for almost a month. Even with the added depth in the frontcourt, the Thunder was outrebounded 57-38 by the Wolves.

"They're confident and they're feeling good about playing basketball. I've said all along it's really a privilege to play in the NBA; it's fun. It's no fun when you're getting stomped, but it's fun when you're playing. They've got to enjoy the game."

The Wolves return to the practice floor on Thursday and Friday before a home matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.

Fan Reactions:
"Fourth Quarter Foye might need a new nickname, like Full Game Foye." --Scott, 31, Eden Prairie
"Foye's been hot the last couple games, but tonight he's been the hottest." --Willa, 56, New Hope
"They've got a long way to go, but Kevin McHale has them in the right direction." --John, 40, Elk River

Matt's Stats Wolves vs. Thunder 1/7/09

-- As mentioned, Randy Foye tied a career-high with 32 points. He needed just 29 minutes to do so. His six three-pointers was a career high.

-- Al Jefferson recorded his fourth double-double in a row and 20th out of 35 games this season. Like Foye, it took him just 29 minutes to tally his 21 points and 13 rebounds.

-- Kevin Love put up a double-double in the fourth quarter alone with 11 points and 11 rebounds, an impressive feat even considering most of the final 12 minutes was what many fans call "garbage time". He finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the season.

-- Love is averaging 14.8 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game on 58.8% shooting from the field in the first four games of 2009.

-- The Wolves beat the Thunder in many key statistical categories. They outrebounded Oklahoma City 57-to-38, shot 52.2% to OKC's 39.8%, had 62 points in the paint compared to 40, and went to the free throw almost twice as often (31-to-16 free throw attempts).

-- The Wolves' 42-point first quarter, led by Foye's 18 points, was just one point shy of the franchise record for points in the first quarter. The Wolves scored 43 points in the first quarter last season against Memphis on April 12th.

-- Mark Madsen saw almost seven minutes of action tonight and made his first actual basket of the season, which drew some of the loudest cheers of the night from the Target Center faithful. Madsen's only other basket this year was actually the result of a goaltending call against Orlando.

-- Rashad McCants also saw some playing time, his first minutes since the game against the Warriors on January 2. Despite the fact that McCants is averaging 9.9 points per game and is one of the Wolves most dynamic scorers, the Wolves are actually 6-2 when McCants either does not play or does not score.

-- Mike Miller played 22 minutes off the bench and finished with eight points. He hit his first three-point shot since the Wolves played Houston on December 20th. Miller is averaging just 5.25 points per game since returning from injury on January 2.

-- The Thunder had a woeful game on both sides of the ball. They finished with just two players in double-figures: Russell Westbrook, and Nick Collison, who scored for the first time since December 21. Leading scorers Kevin Durant and Jeff Green finished with just nine points apiece.

-- Collison also finished with 10 rebounds. It was his fourth double-double of the season.

-- Westbrook finished with 12 assists, a career high.

-- Green scored all nine of his points in the first quarter on 4-for-4 shooting. He went 0-for-4 the rest of the game, and played just 18 minutes.

-- The Wolves' four-game winning streak is the longest it's had since January 1-7 of 2007.

-- Tonight's game was the conclusion of four consecutive back-to-back games for the Wolves from December 26 to January 7. They went 6-2 in that stretch.

--Matt Everhart