Thunder’s defense, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander overwhelm Timberwolves in second half to take Game 1 114-88

This felt like so many of Oklahoma City’s games during the regular season. In particular, the 68 wins.

The Thunder’s elite pressure defense forced 19 turnovers and turned that into 31 points. Oklahoma City’s defense also took away the paint, giving up just 20 points on 43.5% shooting in the key. The Timberwolves tried to shoot over the top of that defense and it got them an early lead when they shot 8-of-19 to start the game. Eventually, the math caught up with them, and Minnesota shot 7-of-32 (21.9%) the rest of the way.

Then came the run. Sparked by that defense, the Thunder took the lead with a 10-0 run using their small-ball lineup in the third quarter. That was stretched out to 17-2 with Kenrich Williams hitting some big shots off the bench. By the start of the fourth, Oklahoma City was up by 10, 76-66, and from there they started to pull away. Oklahoma City won the second half 70-40.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, after a rough 2-of-13 first half, found his groove, shot 8-of-14 in the second half, drew fouls, and finished with a game-high 31 points.

“I didn’t particularly change my mindset, honestly. I just tried to continue to be aggressive, trust my work,” Gilgeous-Alexander said postgame.

The result was a comfortable 114-88 win at home, which has Oklahoma City up 1-0 in the Western Conference Finals. Game 2 is Thursday night in the same building.

Defense is why Oklahoma City is the title favorite, and it held Anthony Edwards to zero points in the fourth quarter, and the Timberwolves team to a 92.6 offensive rating for the game. It’s not just that the Thunder have elite defenders like Lu Dort and Alex Caruso, it’s their teamwork — they can have two or three players swarming the ball trying to force a turnover, yet still seem not to leave anyone else open. By the end, the swarming defense had the Timberwolves hesitant and second-guessing before making a pass. OKC’s defense led to offense.

Also in the second half, the Thunder started to get inside the Timberwolves’ stout defense (something they didn’t do well in the first 24 minutes), which led to dunks and open 3-pointers.

It was a rough night for Minnesota’s leader Edwards, who picked up a foolish early technical for tossing the ball at Gilgeous-Alexander.

Later in the first quarter, Edwards went back to the locker room after turning his ankle on a landing. Fortunately, he returned to the floor midway through the second quarter and looked like nothing had happened.

Julius Randle was Minnesota’s offense in the first half, scoring 20 points and shooting 5-of-6 from 3. Minnesota was an impressive 7-of-17 on above-the-break 3-pointers in the first half, but that dried up after the break. The Thunder’s defense focused more on Randle, who scored eight points in the second half, and nobody else stepped up. Edwards finished with 18 for Minnesota as only he and Randle scored in double figures.

“I definitely got to shoot more. I took 13 f***** shots,” Edwards said. “But I’ll say probably just get off the ball a little more. Play without the ball. I think that would be the answer, because playing on the ball, they’re just going to double and sit in the gaps all day. So I’ve got to go watch some film and take it apart and figure it out.”

Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren came on in the second half for the Thunder, finishing with 19 and 15 points, respectively.

“It’s Game 1,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “They won at home. Congrats to them. They played really well. There’s another game in two days.”