The Minnesota Timberwolves were outclassed in essentially every way through the first two games of their Western Conference Finals matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but you wouldn't know it by the way the first half of Game 3 played out in Minneapolis.
Minnesota returned home to a must-win contest on Sunday, May 24, and couldn't have responded in a more resounding fashion. The team set a franchise playoff record on its way to outscoring the West's No. 1 seed by 31 points in the first 24 minutes of action.
"The Wolves most points ever in a playoff half," the StatMuse X account posted at the break.
Anthony Edwards led the way for Minnesota in the first half, dropping 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-5 from behind the 3-point line. He added eight rebounds, three assists and one steal and was plus-25 in 19 minutes of court time.
Big man Naz Reid reversed his offensive fortunes dramatically in the first half. After missing every 3-point shot he attempted through two games, Reid shot 100% from the field, including 2-of-2 from deep.
Matching Reid with 10 first-half points was Julius Randle, who played excellently in Game 1 but was such a detriment in Game 2 that Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch kept him on the bench for the entire fourth quarter.
It wasn't just offense, though, that led to Minnesota's dominant half to open Game 3. The Timberwolves held the Thunder to 30% shooting from the field (12-of-40) and 26.1% from the 3-point line (6-of-23).