Alex Caruso fouled Edwards with 3.5 to play. Edwards intentionally missed the second of two free throws, but the Thunder got the rebound and threw the ball out of bounds before the Wolves’ last gasp.
The tone was intense from the start of game, and the officials let both teams have play with a lot of contact. They both began the night 7-for-13 before the first timeout at the 5:38 mark. McDaniels had 10 for the Wolves while Williams had eight for the Thunder.
Edwards did not take his first shot of the quarter until there were 35.1 seconds left. In the meantime, the Wolves committed seven turnovers in the quarter — four on four consecutive possessions — and the Thunder shot 56%.
Both Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander had 13 in the quarter on a combined 10-for-14. The only saving grace for the Wolves was they shot 12-for-19 when they weren’t turning the ball over.
The Wolves gave up ground on the offensive glass and allowed the Thunder to score 11 second-chance points in the first half, and Edwards remained a non-shooting participant on offense with just two shot attempts in the first half.
Alexander-Walker picked up the scoring slack for the Wolves with a 4-for-5 first-half off the bench and 11 points, but the Wolves stayed behind in the first half on the margins. There was one possession in which the Thunder scored five points, after the Wolves failed to secure a free-throw rebound, and that resulted in a three for Kenrich Williams. That extended the Thunder lead to nine, their largest of the first half before they went into the locker room up 65-57.