Thunder Manhandle Wolves in 2nd Half, Coast to Game 1 Victory
- Jake C
- May 21
- 4 min read
The Oklahoma City Thunder managed 44 first half points on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, but dominated in the second half en route to a 114-88 win.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put together his 15th career playoff game of 30+ points (10-for-27, 11-for-14 from the line) to steer the Thunder to the victory.
The Timberwolves started the game off well, with Julius Randle in particular taking initiative. Early in the second quarter, Randle connected on his fourth 3-pointer of the game, and seconds later Nickeil Alexander-Walker drilled Minnesota’s eighth triple of the night for a 33-29 advantage. With five minutes remaining in the opening half, Randle hit a rainbow triple from well beyond the line to give the Wolves a 38-31 lead. Randle finished the first half with 20 points on 5-of-6 from downtown. Gilgeous-Alexander missed 11 of his 13 first half attempts and had just two points in the second quarter (11 for the half). The Timberwolves shot 28 times from downtown in the first half, making 10. The Thunder’s Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams were a combined 3-of-11 for 8 points in the half. Despite leading 48-44, the Wolves were shooting just 34.9%, slightly worse than the Thunder’s 37.5%.
The Thunder came out better in the third quarter, with Holmgren (15 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 6-for-9 shooting for the game) finishing a nice hook shot inside over Randle to give his team a 49-48 lead. With 8:42 remaining in the third, Jaden McDaniels picked up his fourth foul, and Gilgeous-Alexander converted from the line for a 54-52 lead. Consecutive triples from Anthony Edwards (18 points, 9 rebounds, 5-for-13, 3-for-8) and Mike Conley (7 points, 2-for-8, 1-for-5 from deep) gave the Timberwolves a 60-56 lead, forcing a Thunder timeout with 7:22 to go in the third.
The Thunder began their onslaught moments later, beginning with a Gilgeous-Alexander midrange shot with 5:25 on the clock to give the Thunder a 62-60 lead. An up and under from Jalen Williams one minute later put the Thunder up 66-60, in the midst of a 10-0 run. The team had gotten stops and started running, which when they do are very hard to stop.
Kenrich Williams (8 points, 3-for-3 shooting) hit a triple with 2:17 remaining in the quarter, giving the Thunder a 71-62 lead, their largest of the game. Gilgeous-Alexander, converting from the elbow, got the lead to 11.
The Thunder’s 17-2 run was stopped by a Donte DiVincenzo triple (73-65), but a leaning jump shot from Gilgeous-Alexander, which resulted in an and-one situation as Edwards committed a foul, led Edwards to the bench with his fourth infraction. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 third quarter points as the Thunder, having blitzed the Wolves for 32 first quarter points, took a 76-66 advantage into the fourth.
Julius Randle, with no third quarter points, connected on a jumper with 10:30 remaining in the game, to get the deficit to eight. Naz Reid scored his first points of the game - a major reason for Game 1’s defeat - with 9:10 remaining to cut the lead to nine, 82-73.
Then the Thunder blew it open.
Gilgeous-Alexander hit another and-one jump shot, this time as he fell to the floor, to put the Thunder up
90-77, his free-throw making the lead 14 at the seven minute mark. The free-throw gave him 26 points.
With 4:24 remaining in the game, Lu Dort hit a lofting corner triple to give the Thunder a 15-point lead, 99-84. An Alex Caruso (9 points, 3-for-3 from downtown) three with 3:05 to go put the Thunder up 104-86. One minute later, the teams emptied their benches.
Mysteriously, Edwards only attempted one shot in the fourth quarter. He only attempted 13 shots in his 37 minutes, so one wonders if his ankle that he rolled in the first quarter continued to bother him throughout the remainder of the game.
Randle played a great first half, but cooled off in the second as he scored just eight points in the final 24 minutes. He finished with 28 points and 8 rebounds on 9-for-13 from the field. Reid, just 1-for-11 and 0-for-7 from downtown for 4 points, DiVincenzo (9 points, 3-for-14), and Alexander-Walker (8 points, 3-for-11) did not perform to their standards as the three primary bench players for the Wolves that typically put together strong outputs. The Thunder’s bench production provided a huge difference in the game.
Helping Gilgeous-Alexander’s effort was Jalen Williams’ 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, though he did miss 11 of his 18 shots. Isaiah Hartenstein scored 12 points (6-for-8) with 5 rebounds in 20 minutes, outperforming Rudy Gobert and his 2 points and 3 rebounds. Hartenstein was effective on baseline lobs, which helped break the game open for the Thunder.
A 70-40 second half advantage for the Thunder culminated in a 50% shooting average, with 11-of-21 makes from distance and a 21-of-26 from the charity stripe finish for the league’s best free-throw shooting team. The Timberwolves after their strong opening quarter and a half looked lethargic while the Thunder looked energized. Minnesota managed 34.9% shooting for the game and shot an uncharacteristic 51 long balls, making 15. They made 15-of-21 free-throws. The Thunder outrebounded Minnesota 46-42, and committed five less turnovers (17 to 12) than the Wolves.
Going into Game 2 (Thursday), the Timberwolves will need to be more aggressive in getting to the basket and need better bench production. Edwards needs to be more aggressive as well, and Gobert needs to find them some inside punch.
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