Thunder Strike Timberwolves + SGA MVP
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What happened in Game 2 between the Thunder and Timberwolves?
Good morning and welcome to the Athletic NBA Daily. Thunder strikes the Timberwolves. We've got John Krasinski of the Athletics to talk about it. OKC going up to nothing. Let's do it. Good morning, John. OKC picks up a 15 point win. Good morning to you, sir. Nice to see you. Yeah. Two wins away from the finals for OKC down 0-2 for Minnesota. And, you know, I thought they played a better game. I thought the Timberwolves played overall a more sharp game than they did in game one, but it wasn't enough, and they couldn't withstand the second-half surge from OKC. Particularly, I think it was a strugglesome game from Julius Randle, who just couldn't get anything going offensively. How hard is it for this team to be effective offensively for four quarters when it comes to Randle not being that guy on a night-to-night basis?
What are the Timberwolves' struggles in this series?
Yeah, I mean, it's it's really difficult because, you know, Julius has been so good for them all playoffs, really consistent. And I think he's averaging like 24 points before tonight, before the game. And and then he has six points left. Five rebounds, two for 11 from the field. He was shooting over 52% from the field coming into game two and just couldn't buy a bucket. This is a team in the Thunder, a 68-win team in the regular season, the heavy favorite in this series. This is a game and a series where you need your stars. Anthony Edwards played well, was more aggressive in this one. He wasn't game one, but When you don't have Julius Randle to kind of help with that physicality with just the bucket getting, it just really becomes very hard to keep up with the Thunder offensively. And that's what we kind of saw in that game. They just could not find enough buckets offensively. to keep up in the track meet with OKC when, when, when Randall's struggling.
Yeah. I thought Ant had a really good start to this game. Um, getting downhill, being aggressive. I mean, in game one, he only took one shot in the paint. He had four shots in the fourth, fourth quarter, uh, in the first quarter in the paint. So like the aggression was there for him to get downhill, uh, and try to assert himself, but the jumper wasn't falling on the other side. One of nine from three, um, For him, it's balancing how much they're utilizing him off ball, trying to get him going as a guy who can attack closeouts and be a guy who can make plays without the ball in his hands and knocking down those catch and shoot looks. But also like being the guy on ball for them. What do they need from him moving forward in this series?
Yeah, I mean, it was a really good adjustment from him to attack the rim even more. I mean, Oklahoma City packs the paint, and they do everything they can to take that away. But I just think that Ant was hell-bent on getting there in Game 2, and he really just put the pedal to the metal, got downhill, and started to create things. And even... On the empty possessions, when that happened, it was always Ant driving and kicking to the corner for a wide-open corner three. Most of the time, they were missing them. And so the simplest thing is the hardest for the Timberwolves right now, and that's shooting the ball. And they were in the regular season. They were fourth in the league in three-point shooting. They shot it well.
They shot above 37% as a team, and Ant was 39% from three on super high volume. Yeah. You go one for nine from three. They went 11 for 39 overall from three-point range. They just have not been able to hit in these first two games. I would credit OKC's defense a lot for that. The scrambling closeouts, the frenetic style that they're playing is speeding the Wolves' shooters up some. But ultimately, they are getting open looks, and they're missing a lot of those looks. And if they start to fall, if those shots start to fall, then this series can turn quickly. But if they don't, then it's going to be over very quickly.
Yeah, I was listening to the postgame and Nikhil Alexander Walker was talking about the wear and tear of the game and how it's not about just trying to land the knockout punch, but withstanding four quarters. And you look at what OKC can do defensively. One, it's the turnovers. Minnesota has 31 turnovers through the first two games. And then the other thing is the three-point shooting.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What happened in Game 2 between the Thunder and Timberwolves?
0:07–1:08
2
What are the Timberwolves' struggles in this series?
1:08–5:37
3
How can the Timberwolves improve their offensive performance?
5:37–13:26
4
What adjustments did Chris Finch make for the Timberwolves?
13:26–18:31
5
How did Shea Gildress Alexander's MVP award impact the Thunder?
18:31–21:42
6
What was the reaction to Shea's MVP celebration?
21:42–23:18