The Oklahoma City Thunder have been the best team in basketball all season long, and they proved that and more during the Western Conference Finals. After getting an epic Game 4 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves to take a 3-1 series lead on Monday night, the Thunder made a statement with a dominant 124-94 victory to close the series out and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012.
After the game, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, general manager Sam Presti and owner Clay Bennett shared a nice moment on the court before the trophy ceremony, via Derek Parker of Sports Illustrated.
Thunder owner Clay Bennett, General Manager Sam Presti and head coach Mark Daigneault embrace after a Finals-clinching win: pic.twitter.com/eULqQmG3kT
— Derek Parker (@DParkOK) May 29, 2025
The three of them have done a great job building this Oklahoma City roster and morphing it into a juggernaut that has dominated this NBA season. Now, the Thunder are just four wins away from an NBA Championship.
The Thunder swept aside the Memphis Grizzlies before surviving a grueling seven-game series against the Denver Nuggets in the second round. During that series, the Thunder had to survive multiple tight games against a battle-hardened squad to advance to the conference finals.
Article Continues BelowFor the entirety of this series against Minnesota, it felt like Oklahoma City used that win over Denver as a springboard and a confidence-booster, and it will be very hard to stop the Thunder now. They won the first two games over the Timberwolves in blowouts before taking a big loss in Game 3.
However, the Thunder proved in Game 4 that they are ready to bring this thing home. Facing a hot Minnesota team in front of a rowdy crowd, Oklahoma City responded with punch after punch to pull away with the win.
Coming into Game 5, the Timberwolves had nothing left in the tank. The Thunder held them to just nine points in the first quarter before running away with the blowout victory in a game that was never competitive from start to finish.
The Thunder now await the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks, a series that Indiana leads 3-1. Regardless of who comes out of the other side, the Thunder will be a heavy favorite coming into the NBA Finals.