Welcome to the Western Conference finals, Timberwolves.
After they appeared overmatched in the first two games of the Western Conference finals in Oklahoma City, the Wolves came back home and thrashed the Thunder 143-101 on Saturday at Target Center. They made a loud statement that this series isn’t over, despite how the first two games played out. The Wolves led 34-14 after the first quarter and they never let Oklahoma City back in it.
Anthony Edwards led the Wolves with 30 and Julius Randle had 24. The Thunder limited Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to 14 points and four free throw attempts. The Thunder shot 40.7% compared to the Wolves’ 57.3%, and the game entered garbage time early in the fourth quarter.
Terrence Shannon Jr. was an addition to the rotation early in the second quarter and finished with 15 points.
It’s rare when a turning point is the opening minutes, but that first quarter marked a turning point for the Wolves in this series. After falling behind 4-0, the Wolves outscored the Thunder 25-5. That included a stretch in which they held the Thunder without a point for 4 minutes, 47 seconds.
Edwards had 16 points and five rebounds in the first as he was aggressive inside and out. He hit three threes in the first quarter, while the defense forced six Thunder turnovers for 11 Wolves points.
The Wolves defense was flying around and guarding the gaps against Gilgeous-Alexander, who had just two points in the quarter and didn’t go to the free-throw line. The Wolves shot 57% for the quarter compared to 29% for the Thunder.