OKC staves off Minnesota 128-126, takes 3-1 series lead in WCF

    Written by: William Petersen •

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    Picture via NBA X account

    The Oklahoma City Thunder staved off a surging Minnesota Timberwolves’ to take a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference Finals, winning Game 4 128-126 on Memorial Day night. The Thunder’s “big three” responded emphatically to their 42-point loss on Saturday night with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren combining for 95 of the Thunder’s 128 points in a game that SGA was one rebound short of a 40-point triple-double. The reigning 2025 MVP finished with 40 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds in a game where he only shot 43% from the field but still dictated the game from his ability to find the open shooter. One of the shooters he found open often, especially down the stretch was Jalen Williams who only had 13 points in the first half but 21 in the second to help hold off a Minnesota bench that scored more points that their starters, (64 by the bench and 62 by the starters). Williams finished with 34 points on 13-for-24 shooting and 6-for-9 from three to help OKC put one foot into their first NBA Finals appearance since 2012. Chet Holmgren added 21 points and seven rebounds on 9-of-14 shooting but also displayed his defensive presence with three key blocks.

    While OKC can taste the Finals, Minnesota should be sick with how they let all the momentum slip away after handling the Thunder like they did in Game 3. Anthony Edwards put up a 30-point performance in Game 3, shooting 12-for-17 from the field and 5-for-8 from three in addition to Julius Randle’s 24 points off of 9-for-15 shooting from the floor and 2-for-5 from deep. In the game where the Timberwolves needed them the most, the two stars combined for a measly 21 points on a combined 6-for-20 from the field, only making one three from 10 combined attempts.

    While these numbers are jarring, the biggest takeaway from Game 4 has to be that Anthony Edwards did not look his normal aggressive self. Edwards finished with 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the floor and a lackluster 1-for-7 from three in a game where Timberwolves fans did not see Edwards even attempt his first shot until 35.1 seconds were left in the first quarter. Ant then proceeded to only take one shot in the second quarter and did not attempt his third shot of the game until about two minutes into the third quarter. His right-hand man Julius Randle continued to struggle in this series, finishing with five points on 1-for-7 shooting, making no threes after dropping 28 points and going 5-for-6 from three in Game 1 of this WCF.

    While the two primary scoring options for Minnesota failed to rise to the occasion on Monday night, the Timberwolves’ bench stole the show from the starters after combining for 64 points from Donte DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Naz Reid and Terrance Shannon Jr. DiVincenzo and Alexander-Walker both went 5-for-8 from beyond the arc even though Alexander-Walker continued to have a difficult time guarding his cousin (SGA), who shot 60% from the field and 62.5% from deep when guarding the newly crowned MVP. While Alexander-Walker continues to have a tough time containing SGA, the Wolves lack of offense has been the biggest weakness in their chances of turning this series around.

    If the Timberwolves want any chance of extending this series to a Game 6 back in Minneapolis, Minnesota will have to have Anthony Edwards play the best playoff game of his career as well as Julius Randle. SGA will get his no matter who is guarding him and Jalen Williams is having a career defining playoff run himself, but Edwards needs to come out flying from the opening tip if they want to keep their season alive. This sounds easy but coming into OKC where the Thunder have nearly been unstoppable might just be too big of a task for a budding superstar that has seemed to have trouble finding focus in the biggest series of his short NBA career. I do not think the Thunder will blow their opportunity to close out this series at home and will not be surprised if the Pacers take their own 3-1 series lead tonight in Indianapolis if Jalen Brunson can get some more help from his supporting cast.

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