Berry Tramel
With 18 seconds left in a miserable first quarter, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was in no hurry. He walked his dribble up court, crossed the midcourt line with 11.1 seconds left and looked bewilderingly at referee Josh Tiven as he called an eight-second violation.
Sure, Gilgeous-Alexander had used just 6.9 seconds to get the ball across the line, but who cares? The Thunder trailed by 19 points. It had no-showed the first quarter, playing with all the intensity of an October exhibition game, yet still hadn’t found a sense of urgency.
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Urgency remained absent without leave.
The Minnesota Timberwolves routed the Thunder 143-101 Saturday night to draw within 2-1 in the Western Conference Finals in Minneapolis’ Target Center.
And suddenly this series is more than alive.
The dominance the Thunder showed, winning twice, by margins of 26 and 15, in Oklahoma City, made the trip north but swapped sides.
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The Timberwolves put Gilgeous-Alexander in the lock box; he scored 14 points and had as many baskets (four) as turnovers. That was better than Jalen Williams, who had more turnovers (four) than baskets (three). The Thunder was outscored by 32 in SGA’s 27½ minutes and by 31 in Williams’ 24 minutes and 43 seconds.
And the Thunder’s typically-world-class defense was a sieve. The Timberwolves scored 72 first-half points, then 35 more in the third quarter. The Thunder lives off steals, but Minnesota had more steals, 6-5.
Call it like it was. The Thunder was lackadaisical. Not ready from the start and never got close to ready while getting lapped.
Mark Daigneault likes to say his young team is mature. We’re about to find out. Can the Thunder recover emotionally and mentally from being so dominated? Can the Thunder show the short memory required of competitors playing at the highest level?
That will be necessary in Game 4 Monday night. A Minnesota victory would make it 2-2 and shift all the momentum to the Timberwolves. Winning Game 3 was paramount for the T-Wolves, but winning like this emboldens Minnesota. Juices the ‘Wolves, who looked like Dead Team Walking as they left OKC in the witching hour Thursday night.
The only Thunder uprising came at the beginning of the third quarter, when OKC made its first four shots — SGA, Isaiah Joe (a second-half starter), Chet Holmgren and Luguentz Dort — and drew within 74-52. Then the Thunder missed four straight, plus an offensive foul by Williams, and the T-Wolves got hot again. They scored on six straight possessions and took a 92-56 lead.
Eventually, Minnesota led by as many as 45.
This was every bit the beatdown the Thunder handed Memphis (131-80) and Denver (149-103) earlier this postseason. Minnesota had the Thunder doubled up in the score (68-33) as late as 1:44 left in the second quarter.
This is a game that will live in infamy, in Oklahoma lore. Up there with the OU-Southern Cal Orange Bowl (55-16) and the OU-Villanova Final Four (95-51).
But those were one-shot deals. This is best-of-seven, and OKC now must make sure that this Minnesota rout doesn’t beat the Thunder twice.
Tulsa World Sports Extra Show: Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the greatest Thunder ever?
Tulsa World Sports Extra Show: Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the greatest Thunder ever? Juwan Lee and Berry Tramel discuss SGA's first MVP and if it's too early to put him in the all-time Thunder greats list? Also, Tramel gives his Game 1 reaction and prediction for Thursday's Game 2.
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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