MINNEAPOLIS — Jalen Williams tried to toss a soft pass to Isaiah Hartenstein, only to have Rudy Gobert swat it away to create an Anthony Edwards transition opportunity the other way early in Game 3 on Saturday at Target Center.
It was a harbinger of what was to come.
Three minutes later, Lu Dort came off a ball screen from Williams. Edwards, who was guarding Williams at the play’s outset, shot off Williams and knocked the ball away from Dort. The Thunder guard went flying to the floor, and Edwards went coasting the other way for an easy flush.
With three minutes to play in the opening quarter, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came off a ball screen from Chet Holmgren. Rather than retreating backward on the play, as he’d done for much of the first two games of the series, Rudy Gobert moved up the floor to apply pressure to the NBA Most Valuable Player.
As Gilgeous-Alexander picked up the ball to attempt a pass, Gobert knocked it away, picked it up and went down the floor in transition.
Minnesota’s high-pressure defense made Oklahoma City’s life hell in the Wolves’ dominant win Saturday.
It was eerily reminiscent of the way the Wolves defended against Phoenix and Denver in last year’s playoffs — which had to at least briefly make Devin Booker and Jamal Murray consider retirement — and a stark contrast to how Minnesota played on that end through the first two games of this series.
“We wanted to be the aggressor in everything, absolutely,” said Wolves coach Chris Finch. “Guys knew what type of defense we could play. We don’t feel we’ve been playing it. We felt most of the series we’ve been on our heels defensively.”
Indeed. Oklahoma City got to go wherever it wanted offensively over the first two games. It piled up paint points and never appeared to experience an ounce of stress while doing so.
There was nothing to fear about the Timberwolves’ suddenly tame defense.
Some correlated the lack of tenacity to foul trouble, but the majority of Minnesota’s fouls in Oklahoma City came when the Wolves were in retreat mode. Minnesota was downright tentative while repeatedly getting punched in the face by the conference’s top seed.
That needed to change if Minnesota was to correct course and challenge Oklahoma City in this series. The tables turned in Game 3. Yes, the Timberwolves simply brought a better energy level and enthusiasm to the defensive side of the ball, but there was a scheme shift, too.
Minnesota started to switch pick and rolls and extended its defense much further up the floor. No longer were the Wolves surrendering prime real estate to the Thunder in their own end. The result for Minnesota was a reversion to its harassing, hit-first defense.
“Be more assertive and just let our physicality dictate who we are,” said Wolves guard Mike Conley. “They’re a physical team, and we’ve got to be just as physical if we want to have a chance to win. We understood that and kind of showed that tonight.”
Asked about the change of strategy with the defensive schemes, Finch said, “Sometimes you’ve just got to throw your fastball.”
“We were trying to do too much other junk out there at times,” he added.
Specifically, a pair of zone defenses that were dead on deployment. Conley noted the Wolves watched Denver’s defense give Oklahoma City consistent issues in the Western Conference semifinals. The Nuggets did so often with zone looks. In response, Minnesota attempted to add in a pair of zones for the series.
But Conley said Minnesota hadn’t used either in a game all season, and it showed. The Wolves looked hesitant and unsure of themselves when deploying the looks. That’s a great way to get beat.
“We’re not the same team Denver is, so sometimes it’s not just apples to apples,” Conley said.
Indeed. Denver is anchored by Nikola Jokic — an incredibly cerebral, yet somewhat slow-footed center. The strength of the Wolves is the depth of hounding perimeter defenders in the pack.
By turning defense into a thinking man’s game, Minnesota negated much of its natural physical advantages that stem from speed and length.
“Guys were kind of slow in rotations (in the zone) as we were trying to do it right,” Conley said. “But we’re more of a man-to-man team, a physical team.”
If you’re going to go down, do so with your best foot firmly planted forward.
Being physical, aggressive and in-your-face is Minnesota’s “fastball.” It was also what the Wolves had success with against the Thunder during the regular season.
Any defensive plan that allows the Wolves to use their speed and size gives them a great chance to win games, as proven in Saturday’s performance. Oklahoma City turned the ball over 15 times while shooting just 41% from the field and scoring just 42 points in the paint. Gilgeous-Alexander never looked comfortable at any point in the evening.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) dribbles the ball past Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) during the first half in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Target Center in Minneapolis.
With its aggression, Minnesota kept the Thunder out of their comfort zones and was able to dictate the terms under which the game was played.
“I thought we did a really good job of setting that line of scrimmage in our favor,” Conley said.
Switching and playing up in coverage effectively serve as challenges for guys to defend the man in front of them, and Minnesota’s defenders love to rise to an occasion. The aggressive defensive scheme brought the best out of the Wolves, as has often been the case in recent years.
“Our competitiveness was at an all-time high,” Finch said.
The Wolves were big, fast and strong. That’s a combination that has long proven difficult to down.
Don’t think, just guard — and wish the opponent “Good luck.”
“This team tonight is who we want to be going forward,” Conley said. “Nobody on this team is afraid, nobody backs down, nobody is bigger than the team. That’s kind of who we’ve been defensively. I think we’ve just got to continue that mindset going forward, and understand that we’re going to stay confident going through it.”
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