The Oklahoma City Thunder decisively won the first two games of the Western Conference Finals, but Game 3 was about as one-sided as a game can get in the NBA. Unfortunately, it was the Minnesota Timberwolves coming away with that win.
The Timberwolves blasted the Thunder 143-101 on Saturday night in Minneapolis, narrowing the series after two OKC wins back home.
And there were no excuses to be thrown around after the blowout loss, at least not from Chet Holmgren.
“Wherever they wanted to go, they got there. They didn’t let us beat them in any way. They did what they wanted to do, and we didn’t stop them,” Holmgren said in the post-game press conference [h/t Goosedukee on Reddit].
The analysis of the game was spot on; Minnesota dominated the game from the get-go, outscoring the Thunder 34-14 in the first quarter. While Oklahoma City was more competitive the rest of the way, the Timberwolves still kept pouring it on. The lead grew from 20 after one quarter to 31 after two, 37 after three, and finally, the 42-point advantage with which the Timberwolves finished.




Holmgren was one of four Thunder players to score in double figures, although none scored more than 14 points. Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle, on the other hand, combined for 54 points in the rout. Even Terrence Shannon Jr., a rookie who had not played in four of the Timberwolves' previous five games, scored 15 points, outpacing every OKC player despite logging just 13 minutes.
Fortunately for Holmgren and the Thunder, no matter how big the gap was in Game 3, the loss is still just one loss. OKC remains ahead in the series 2-1 and has a chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead back to Oklahoma.
The Thunder will likely need newly crowned NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to be at his best to do so. In the series' first two games, SGA averaged nearly 35 points per game and put immense pressure on the Minnesota defense by drawing fouls. In Game 3, though, he was 4-for-13 from the field and shot just four free throws. In comparison, he was 22-for-48 on field goals in Games 1 and 2, as well as 24-for-29 on free throws in those games.
Game 3 between the Thunder and Timberwolves is set to tip off at approximately 7:30 p.m. CT tomorrow.