Recap: Thunder at Timberwolves

By Nick Gallo and Paris Lawson | okcthunder.com

Box Score: OKC at MIN

The Thunder’s season began in Minnesota back in October, with a road test against a big, physical, veteran Timberwolves squad. The year ended in the same city, but this OKC team is one transformed by the experiences it undertook throughout the past seven months, including tonight’s win-or-go-home play-in game. 

As it has all season, the Thunder went into tonight with the same, steady approach of trying to execute its gameplan and play together towards the same end. Unfortunately, OKC didn’t bring enough force and intentionality to the offensive end to finish around the rim and didn’t come up with enough defensive stops to give itself a chance down the stretch. With a final score of 120-95, the Thunder dropped its 84th game of the season, two more games than many outside observers would have predicted at the beginning of the year. 

While Wednesday night’s win in New Orleans is a confidence booster for the Thunder heading into the offseason, Friday night’s battle in Minnesota is a great reminder for the second youngest team in the league how much more growth it needs to make. The Thunder is far from a finished product, with plenty of areas to improve upon and sharpen over the summer before next season begins.  

Paris: The Thunder may have been giving up some size against Minnesota’s frontline, but that didn’t stop the team from out-rebounding its larger opponent in the first quarter or racking up more blocks. On one possession, the 6-foot-3 Isaiah Joe rose up to completely erase the shot of Timberwolves’ guard Jordan McLaughlin. Joe may have missed the shot on the other end of the floor, but the guard scrapped to get his own rebound. Two more offensive rebounds later, the ball landed in the hands of sharp-shooter Lindy Waters III who drained a 3-pointer on the third attempt. By the end of the first quarter, the Thunder racked up four offensive rebounds compared to just one for the Wolves while also swatting away four blocks while Minnesota logged none. 

Nick: Minnesota’s 7-foot-1 center Rudy Gobert rolled hard to the rim with a clear angle at the hoop as the ball arrived in his hands. In position on the weak side though was Lu Dort, sitting exactly where he was supposed to in the Thunder’s defensive shell. As Gobert elevated towards the basket Dort did the same and met him there for the moment of truth. Going up straight with both arms, Dort met Gobert with physicality and ensured Gobert didn’t get a wide open dunk and instead had to go to the free throw line to earn those two points. Dort’s tenacity was on display on both ends early, as he also deflected a pass out top to prevent an easy catch by Karl-Anthony Towns, then later he pushed the ball hard in transition to draw a foul at the rim. Like on Wednesday in New Orleans, Dort led the Thunder once again in the first quarter, this time with six points and four rebounds. For the game, Dort notched 17 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. 

Nick: Offense wasn’t easy to come by in this one, so the Thunder had to stay vigilant for any opportunity it could get to rack up points. After Josh Giddey got a shot blocked he swung the ball back up the perimeter to Dort, who fired it quickly across the top of the key to rookie center Jaylin Williams. The big man was ready to fire and nailed a three-pointer, which ignited a 7-2 Thunder burst that cut Minnesota’s biggest lead of 14 down to a more manageable seven shortly before halftime. Williams had the unenviable task of dealing with Rudy Gobert and the Timberwolves’ overall team size throughout this game, but managed to hold his own down low. With some massive box outs down low, Williams snapped up 5 first half rebounds and for the game chipped in eight points and two blocks as one of eight rookie or second year Thunder players to see minutes tonight. 

Paris: Jalen Williams cashed in a pair of 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions. Then on the defensive end, the rookie used a physical box out on Karl-Anthony Towns to secure a rebound after a Timerwolves missed basket and immediately erupted up the court. Williams hit the gas and barrelled down the lane, taking on contact left and right before getting the call at the rim. After sinking the two free throws, Williams raised his first half point total up to 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from deep in just 17 minutes of action. 

Nick: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander kept sticking his nose in the fray all night, sacrificing his body and his fouls for the team when the Thunder needed it. On one defensive play in the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander battled down low with Gobert for a defensive rebound, and on the second chance, the Timberwolves center flung his arm backwards and clocked Shai just below his right eye, causing the Thunder All-Star to fall to the ground and require medical attention. The Thunder called timeout to get SGA off the floor at the 9:45 mark of the quarter, yet stunningly at the 7:42 mark, he was back on the floor after OKC’s medical staff met with him back in the locker room. Shai missed just 2:03 of action, then came back and played with great force, getting to the free throw line eight times and scoring 10 points in the frame. 

Paris: Anthony Edwards tried to attack the middle of the floor but was thwarted by the reaching hands of Lu Dort who poked the ball away from Edwards’ grip. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scooped up the loose change in transition and dropped it off to Isaiah Joe who was sprinting up the opposite side of the floor. Joe took his allotted two strides and elevated for a monster one-handed flush that forced Timberwolves’ head coach Chris Finch to call a timeout. The flush was part of a 12-5 run out of halftime to cut down on what had become a 17 point lead for Minnesota. 

Nick: With all of Minnesota’s size and length in the interior, the Thunder struggled to score as much in the paint as it normally does. One fourth quarter play, however, demonstrated exactly how the Thunder wants to score every night. Leveraging an over-aggressive defense that tried to prevent Gilgeous-Alexander from making a catch, Josh Giddey hesitated just a moment to give his backcourt mate time to dart backdoor from the top of the key through the middle of the lane. The rest of the floor was spaced well for the Thunder, and Gilgeous-Alexander burned past his man to receive Giddey’s bounce pass and score an easy right handed layup. The Thunder scored just 30 points in the paint in the game overall as plays like that backdoor cut were denied or ended in the ball just barely rimming out. 

Paris: Lindy Waters III attacked off a high ball screen set by Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. After creating several paces of separation, the guard snapped a sharp behind the back pass to Robinson-Earl who drained the 3-pointer. The clock was winding down on a game that had already gone handily in favor of the Wolves, but that didn’t stop the Thunder from squeezing every ounce of experience and opportunity from the moment. For Robinson-Earl, Waters, Wiggins, Mann and Dieng who all closed out the game, it was the first ever taste of postseason basketball and as they always did throughout the season, they used every minute to add to their cache of new experiences. 

“Credit Minnesota. I thought from the jump and throughout the game, they were just a better team tonight. It's a one game series, and in a one game series, that's how it works. So a lot of credit to them. Obviously we didn't throw our best punch tonight. The other night (Wednesday), it was pretty close to our best punch on both ends of the floor. Tonight we had some regression and this is all part of the deal. You get to you see where your highs are, you see where your lows are, and you learn from each of them. Then you just keep using all those experiences to get better and that's what we have to do.

I think the last two games give us a really good range of what we're capable of from a positive standpoint and a negative one. I think you can learn from both. I think this game tonight should give us some humility and understand we have like I said, we gotta roll our sleeves up and get to work. We are far from the finished product as a team and the other night should give us a lot of confidence in what we're capable of when we're on point on both ends of the floor and some good lessons as we head to the offseason.” –Coach Daigneault

“It's a long game. There's gonna be some ups and downs definitely. We just got to stack possessions and then the crowd is gonna get involved, the pressure is going to get higher and we’ve just got to stay together. It was just good to have this experience now under our belt and we know what to expect in the years to come.” –Lu Dort 

“We've come a long way. All the guys have come a long way. It's been fun. It's been really fun this year. We turned the corner a little bit. I don't think we're satisfied either, so I'm excited for the future.” –Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

The Thunder will return home from Minneapolis late Friday night, then hold end of season interviews on Saturday. Be sure to stay glued to okcthunder.com and the Thunder Mobile App for full coverage. 

By Zach Beeker | OKC Thunder