For a half on Tuesday, the Minnesota Timberwolves contained the Thunder offense and threatened to steal Game 1 of the Western Conference finals in Oklahoma City.
But as it’s done throughout the playoffs, Oklahoma City’s depth proved to be too much. The Thunder rode a 10-0 run to a 14-point third-quarter advantage to open the game up en route to a runaway 114-88 win.
As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggled early from the field against physical defense and double-teams, three of his fellow Thunder starters joined him in double figures. And Oklahoma City’s bench unit proved again to be the superior unit as Minnesota’s struggled to keep pace.
The Thunder opened the game up in the third quarter after trailing, 48-44 in the first half in which Gilgeous-Alexander shot just 2 of 13 from the field. But Gilgeous-Alexander found his stroke after the break (8 of 14 after halftime) and finished with a game-high 31 points alongside nine assists, five rebounds and three steals.
Things get chippy between SGA, Anthony Edwards
While Gilgeous-Alexander struggled early from the field, he had no problems getting to the line. The presumed MVP attempted seven three throws in the first quarter as Oklahoma City built an 11-1 advantage at the free throw line.
It was typical of Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished second in the league in free-throw attempts in the regular season and drew criticism from some as a perceived free-throw merchant. Edwards appeared to irked at Gilgeous-Alexander’s penchant for drawing early fouls and tossed the ball at the Thunder guard when he was sprawled on the floor following a foul by Jaden McDaniels.
The incident drew a technical foul for Edwards, who wasn’t done expressing his frustration.
In the third quarter, Edwards chased Gilgeous-Alexander from behind, and Gilgeous-Alexander fell to the floor after contact. Edwards did not let him up. The initial contact didn’t draw a foul. But Edwards stood over him to prevent him from standing up, and officials had seen enough. They whistled Edwards for a personal foul.
The interactions set a chippy tone between the team’s two superstars.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished the game shooting 11 of 14 at the line. The Thunder had a 26-21 advantage in free-throw attempts for the game.
Julius Randle starts hot, fades late
The first half belonged to Julius Randle. As Minnesota limited Oklahoma City to 44 first-half points, Randle paced the Timberwolves offense with 20 points en route to the four-point Minnesota lead. He got there thanks to a 5-for-6 effort from 3-point distance that set a career playoff high for made 3s for Randle that he reached in the second quarter.
But Randle and the Timberwolves slowed down after the break. Randle attempted just one field goal in the third quarter and made none. As Oklahoma City reeled off 32 points in the quarter, Minnesota scored just 18.
Randle scored eight points in the fourth quarter after the Thunder had seized control and finished with 28 points and eight rebounds. He shot 9 of 13 from the field, but didn’t take another 3-pointer after his 5-of-5 effort in the first half.
Edwards finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists. No other Timberwolves starter scored more than seven points. Oklahoma City blitzed Minnesota with a 70-40 advantage in the second half.
OKC’s bench gets the job done — again
The Thunder got this far in part by fielding arguably the deepest roster in basketball, and it paid off again on Tuesday. Eight Thunder bench players finished a collective plus-70 in the plus/minus column while none registered a negative number.
Meanwhile, each Timberwolves bench player registered a negative number as eight players totaled a collective -83 in the plus/minus column.
Oklahoma City’s bench unit largely got the job done with efficiency and on defense. Minnesota’s reserves shot a combined 9 of 41 (21.9%) from the field. Donte DiVincenzo led Timberwolves backups with nine points, but did so on a 3-of-14 effort from the field and 3-of-12 clip from 3-point distance.
Naz Reid finished 1 of 11 from the field and missed all seven of his 3-point attempts. Nickeil Alexander-Walker shot 3 of 11 from the field and 2 of 9 from 3.
Oklahoma City’s bench, meanwhile, combined to shoot 10 of 16 from the field for an efficient 32 points.
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