NBA Matchups: May 28

Minnesota Timberwolves at Oklahoma City Thunder

Team Totals: Wolves 106, Thunder 114.5

Injury Report: Nikola Topic (O, ACL)

Wolves projected starters: Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert

Thunder projected starters: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein

Offensive Ranks: Wolves 8th, Thunder 2nd
Defensive Ranks: Wolves 6th, Thunder 1st

Finch quotes: Said they are not going to win against the Thunder when they turn it over 20 times, said Ant was better in the second half “after he lagged behind in the first half”, said the “bench was really, really good” and that’s why he went with them over Randle and Rudy, said “this isn’t the formula to get it done” against OKC, said their seven turnovers in the first quarter really knocked them off, said NAW “had a great night” and he made the right play, said NAW “is really playing well right now”, said Jaden has been doing a great job overall right now.  

Daigneault quotes: Said they had good late-game execution and they took it a possession at a time, said J-Dub set the tone early and Chet “was a monster”, said Dort’s early defense was another tone setter, said SGA never felt sped up and he “was outstanding offensively”, said “I learned nothing” about how the guys played on Monday because that’s what they do, said it’s the first time they’re up 3-1 and they have to handle it, said they had some breakdowns on McDaniels and he was awesome, said they were fortunate to get a win when the Wolves had such great bench output, said they were not planning to play iHart that light on minutes and that’s just what the game gave them, said Dort established the energy with defense on Ant, said they have to do a better job of taking away some of the off-ball scoring.

Stats and notes:

*The Wolves had excellent play from the vast majority of their rotation, but Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards just didn’t have it. Besides that, OKC winning the turnover and possession battle was really the story, as OKC had 19 offensive rebounds to Minnesota’s 22 defensive rebounds. The Wolves turned it over 21 times to OKC’s 14 turnovers, and despite all those edges, the Wolves still won second-chance points 30-24 and fast-break points 13-5. Minnesota also got more rim points/volume, but OKC’s sterling jump shooting at a 70.4 eFG% was too much to overcome with the possession deficit. OKC also killed the Wolves on wide-open treys at 12-of-23, and overall they went 13-of-26 on C&S attempts. As great as that sounds, the Wolves were actually better on jumpers at a 77.6 eFG%, and Minnesota finally cashed in on their C&S attempts at 57.7% for an 86.5 eFG%. If the Wolves played the Thunder even on possessions, they might have won by 10+ points.