Berry Tramel
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Thunder had come to life Tuesday night. The Paycom Center crowd had stayed alive, with little fuel, but here came the Thunder, and Julius Randle was determined to do something about it.
The strong and skilled Timberwolf decided to muscle-dribble against Luguentz Dort, whose second-half defense had put the kibosh on Randle’s scoring explosion. Uh, bad decision, Julius.
Randle hit the stone wall that is Dort, fell to the ground, Dort picked up the loose ball and got it to his fellow Canadian, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Rough first half for Gilgeous-Alexander, but he had helped bring the Thunder back, and SGA was determined to finish off Minnesota.
So in transition, Gilgeous-Alexander drove against his own tormentor, Jaden McDaniels, and drew a foul. As he stumbled from the contact, SGA’s flung up a desperation bank shot. The ball rattled in, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s subsequent foul shot gave OKC a 14-point lead with seven minutes left.
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The Thunder went on to a 114-88 victory in Game 1 of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals, a margin that seemed unreachable during a slog of a first half.
The Timberwolves led 48-44 at intermission and had the Thunder offense in a vice grip. Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams had made a combined four of 21 shots, Chet Holmgren was in a grand funk and answers seemed few.
But the second half was reversed. SGA cooked. Williams got hot. Holmgren got the right kind of angry. Heck, even Kenrich Williams, not even in the rotation during the just-ended Denver series, lit the flame with back-to-back buckets in the third quarter.
The Thunder’s second-half offense was superb. OKC scored on 30 of 46 possessions. SGA scored 20 second-half points. Jalen Williams and Holmgren each had 13. The trio combined to make 18 of 30 shots.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams were more careful with the ball. More careful and more aggressive, not waiting for the Minnesota pressure to pin them in. They got to the basket and created open shots on the perimeter. OKC made eight of 13 shots from deep in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Thunder defense remained solid, with the added kicker of (mostly Dort) stopping Randle, who had 20 points at halftime but finished with just 28. Randle’s final six points came after the Thunder had stretched its lead to double digits.
By game’s end, the Timberwolves were frustrated. Superstar Anthony Edwards had his moments but scored just five second-half points and finished with 18, on 5-of-13 shooting. The Thunder’s defensive depth allowed Dort to move off Edwards, and OKC was fine with Cason Wallace dogging Edwards.
The Thunder perhaps won the game in the first half, by trailing just 48-44 at halftime after displaying ghastly offense.
OKC made just six of 17 shots in the first quarter, then committed six turnovers in the second quarter.
The Timberwolves’ defensive pressure suffocated Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams. The long-armed duo of Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker swarmed the Thunder ballhandlers from halfcourt in, and even when they reached the paint, Minnesota allowed few open looks.
Foul shots are all that kept the Thunder close.
Meanwhile, the Thunder kept Edwards from getting many shots (seven, he made three), but OKC had no answer for Randle. The Thunder was so determined to keep Randle from playing bully ball in the paint, it failed to stay attached beyond the arc.
In the first half, Randle made five 3-pointers in six attempts. The rest of the ballplayers, both teams combined, made eight of 30.
The Minnesota edge was not in 3-point shooting; the advantage was in 3-pointers attempted. The Timberwolves were 10 of 28 from deep in the first half, the Thunder just three of eight. That’s a 21-point difference, and the Thunder wasn’t efficient enough elsewhere to make up the difference.
Mark Daigneault tried many things, including an expanded rotation. He played dang near everyone this side of Ousmane Dieng. When Aaron Wiggins checked in to begin the second quarter, he was the 10th Thunder to play. Isaiah Joe played before Alex Caruso. Kenrich Williams played in the first quarter.
But Daigneault is not afraid to experiment, and he stays patient. So did his team, which finally exploded and now is just three wins away from the NBA Finals.
Video: 'Game changer' Caruso hailed for history-making performance against Jokic
SGA and Chet Holgren heaped praise on Alex Caruso's historic game 7 performance against Nikola Jokic.Stats Perform Video
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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