Julius Randle appears to have gotten a new lease in his playoff life with the Minnesota Timberwolves. During the 2021 and 2023 NBA playoffs, back when he was with the New York Knicks, he was very prone to poor shooting nights and didn't rise to the level that was needed as one of his team's best players. But in 2025, the Timberwolves have been getting plenty of contributions from Randle — even in Game 1 of their Western Conference Finals clash against the Thunder, the 30-year-old forward was their best player.

However, Game 2 of the Thunder series proved to be a bit of deja vu for Randle. He crashed all the way back down to earth with a putrid Game 2 performance in a 118-103 defeat for the Timberwolves, scoring a playoff career-low six points on a ghastly 2-11 shooting night.

In fact, things got so bad for Randle on Thursday night that the Timberwolves didn't even give him a single second out on the court in the fourth quarter of Game 2 — opting to roll with Naz Reid instead as they attempted an unlikely comeback. And fans weren't too pleased that Randle is back to his old ways, and in the biggest stage, no less.

“Randle didn’t show up tonight at all 😞,” X user @dauraqmarkaveli wrote.

“Bench Julius Randle buma** I bet he will make every open layup after that 😡,” @Ron_veii added.

“Julius Randle actually got the call from Vegas cause ain’t no way that n***a played that bad,” @EMONEYHUNGRY furthered.

“Done with Randle. Being inefficient is one thing, but single digits in a playoff game is just disgusting,” @spritery00 expressed.

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“Idk randle played his worst game if randle go cold okc sweeps then easy they basically doin twolves how they did [Memphis],” @ElishajuanJohn1 claimed.

Timberwolves have to get it together

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle (30) looks on against the Golden State Warriors in the first half during game five of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Target Center.
Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

The Timberwolves are floundering once again in the Western Conference Finals, and deja vu appears to be the theme for the entire locker room. Head coach Chris Finch challenged them all season long by wanting his team to prove that getting to the Western Conference Finals last year was no fluke, but it looks like their ceiling is the WCF if they don't get it together as soon as possible.

Minnesota is being thoroughly outplayed by OKC on both ends of the floor; their turnover problems are already compounding their inability to shoot efficiently from the field. They will be hoping that a trip back home to the friendly confines of Target Center helps them right the ship in time to rescue their season.