Thunder Overcome No. 1 Seeded Timberwolves in Convincing Fashion
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The Oklahoma City Thunder just gained potentially its biggest win of the season.
The top team in the Western Conference has undoubtedly been the Minnesota Timberwolves across the season, holding the No. 1 seed for most of its 29 games. Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns have fully come into their own as an elite duo, while the Timberwolves defense has been the highest rated in the NBA.
However, that defense stood no chance against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tonight, as Oklahoma City defeated Minnesota 129-to-106.
The MVP candidate had an efficient night leading the Thunder to victory, recording 34 points, six rebounds, nine assists, two steals and one block on 14-of-19 shooting. He was borderline unstoppable, playing some of his best basketball of the season thus far.
Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Luguentz Dort all provided efficient shooting nights as well, combining for a total of 61 points. Between the four, they scored 95 of the Thunder's 129 points, making for a dominant performance from the starting lineup.
The Oklahoma City offense was on fire all night, leaving a strong Minnesota defense led by Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels lost in the dirt. It shot 60.5% from the field, including 46.2% from 3-point range.
The Thunder came out rolling immediately, with Josh Giddey quickly serving five assists in the first six minutes of the first quarter. Both Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams started hot shooting the ball, scoring 11 and nine points in the 40-point quarter respectively.
The offensive battle continued into the second quarter, stretching the score at halftime to 66-60 in Oklahoma City's advantage. Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams continued to increase their point totals, while Dort came alive to score 11 points in the first half.
A 14-point performance in the third quarter from Gilgeous-Alexander helped the Thunder keep its lead ahead of the Timberwolves, scoring at will from all areas on the court.
Oklahoma City opted to start the fourth quarter without Gilgeous-Alexander, and unlike previous stretches over the season without him, the rest of the lineup stepped up in his absence. Williams knocked down a pair of threes in the first couple minutes, followed by another from Holmgren.
The lead continued to jump in Oklahoma City's favor as the quarter went on, leaving Minnesota with far too large of a deficit to overcome. It's just the Timberwolves seventh loss of the season, proving that the Thunder can handle elite teams, not just those at the bottom.
The Thunder will travel to Denver to rematch the reigning NBA Champion Denver Nuggets on Friday, Dec. 29 and 8:00 p.m. CT.
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