The Wolves bit Oklahoma and brought them back down to earth

The first two games of the Western Conference Finals gave us a bit of a false impression; Oklahoma won the first one with force, and the second one easily. It seemed like Denver would be the only serious obstacle for the top favorite on their way to the NBA Finals. However, Minnesota rose from its own ashes, defended its honor, and signaled that this series might actually turn out to be exciting—worthy of the finale of the strongest basketball competition on the planet: 143–101 (34:14, 38:27, 35:29, 36:31).

The Timberwolves didn’t just win Game 3 and cut the series deficit to 1–2; this wasn’t an “ordinary” victory. The manner in which Chris Finch’s team achieved it may be even more important than the win itself, as it undoubtedly boosts their confidence to the max while simultaneously deflating the newly crowned MVP and his teammates. Oklahoma was in such a deep slump tonight that Mark Daigneault began emptying the bench halfway through the third quarter. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander checked out then and never returned. The scoreboard read 92–56 at that moment…

Everyone in the arena knew there was no coming back for the Thunder.

SGA was completely shut down. This was not only his worst playoff performance—it was his worst game of the entire season. With 5:50 left in the second quarter, he had just two points?! He managed to finish with 14 (on 4-of-13 shooting), but he was far from the only one to blame for this debacle. The whole team underperformed—or, more accurately, was forced into it by Minnesota’s brilliance.

In terms of energy, physicality, and shooting—whichever way you want to look at it—the Wolves outplayed their opponent. Leading the charge was Anthony Edwards. A player some experts have compared to Michael Jordan delivered a Jordan-esque performance. We saw a full display of the young star’s skills and his outstanding shooting night. He finished the game with 30 points (12-of-17 from the field, 5-of-8 from three), nine rebounds, and six assists. Those numbers could’ve been even better had he played in the fourth quarter...

Edwards was strongly supported by Julius Randle (24 points), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (12), Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels (10 each). Rookie Terrence Shannon also had a nice showing with 15 points. Gilgeous-Alexander shared top scorer honors on his team with bench player AJ Mitchell (14 each), while Jalen Williams scored 13, and Chet Holmgren and Dillon Jones had 10 apiece. No Oklahoma starter besides Shai played more than 24 minutes, which also shows how early this game was decided.

The stats say the visitors attempted 44 three-pointers and missed 30 of them, while Minnesota, with a similar number of attempts (40), made 20! The home team also had 16 more rebounds, more steals, and fewer turnovers.

It’s entirely possible that a blowout win/loss like this could change the entire course of the series...

NBA, Playoffs, Wester conference finals

Timberwolves - Thunder 143 - 101