Thunder Dismantle Wolves in 2nd Half

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily: Thunder Dismantle Wolves in 2nd Half – Episode Summary

Release Date: May 21, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of The Athletic NBA Daily, hosts Zena Cato, Dave DeFore, and Esfandiar Baraheni delve into the riveting first game of the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Joined by regular contributors Andrew Schlecht and Alex Spears, the panel provides in-depth analysis of the Thunder's commanding second-half performance that secured a decisive 114-88 victory over the Timberwolves.

Game Overview

The first game of the series set a dynamic tone, with the Thunder showcasing a remarkable turnaround in the second half. The initial quarters appeared subdued, possibly due to broadcast audio levels, but the energy surged as the game progressed. Zena Cato remarked at [03:03] that the first quarter "had a little bit of people quiet, a little nervous for OKC," highlighting the early tension.

First Half Analysis

The Thunder struggled initially, shooting a mere 35% from the field and missing easy layups, which contributed to a muted crowd atmosphere ([04:00]). Andrew Schlecht noted at [04:48], "The possibilities are endless," emphasizing the Timberwolves' difficulty in converting opportunities early on. However, Julius Randle emerged as a pivotal figure, delivering an "unbelievable, glorious playoff run" by consistently making critical shots and stretching the Timberwolves' defense ([05:40]).

Second Half Transformation

A significant shift occurred in the second half, where the Thunder intensified their offensive and defensive strategies. The team's points in the paint surged to 54, compared to the Timberwolves' 20, demonstrating their dominance inside the key area ([04:48]). Zena Cato highlighted, "This was a tale of two halves," underscoring the Thunder's ability to recalibrate and dominate as the game progressed.

Key Player Performances

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) was instrumental in the Thunder's success, both offensively and defensively. At [09:24], Andrew Schlecht emphasized, "He took 16 shots in the paint tonight. He averages 11 on the season," praising SGA's ability to draw fouls and create scoring opportunities. Additionally, the Thunder's defensive prowess forced the Timberwolves into 17 turnovers, translating into 31 transition points ([13:12]).

Julius Randle also played a crucial role, especially in the first half, where his shot-making kept the Timberwolves competitive. However, his effectiveness waned in the second half as the Thunder fortified their defense ([05:40]).

Defensive Strategies

The Thunder employed an aggressive defensive scheme that focused on crowding the middle, leading to numerous steals and disrupting the Timberwolves' offensive flow ([07:04]). S. Behrhenny elaborated at [07:47], "They are shutting things off for the Wolves... they threw zone there for a second," highlighting the Thunder's tactical adjustments that stifled Minnesota's gameplay.

Minnesota's Struggles and Adjustments

The Timberwolves faced challenges in maintaining consistency, particularly in their three-point shooting. They attempted 51 threes but only made 29%, while the Thunder shot 52% from beyond the arc despite fewer attempts ([04:48], [05:57]). Key players like Anthony Edwards and Nas Reed struggled with their shooting accuracy, contributing to Minnesota's difficulties ([13:04]).

The team also had to contend with fouls, notably Jada McDaniels fumbling out with four fouls, which shifted the momentum in favor of the Thunder ([17:16]). Despite these setbacks, hosts expressed optimism about Minnesota's ability to bounce back in subsequent games by adjusting their strategies and improving shot selection ([28:24]).

Series Outlook

Looking ahead, the panel anticipates a tightly contested series. Andrew Schlecht confidently stated at [28:29], "I absolutely think so," regarding Minnesota's potential to win the next game. However, S. Behrhenny cautioned about the Thunder's depth and tactical flexibility, suggesting that Minnesota would need to significantly improve their shooting and reduce turnovers to stay competitive ([30:37]).

Notable Quotes

• Zena Cato ([03:03]): "Andrew is in the building for OKC's first game. Kind of crazy."
• Andrew Schlecht ([05:40]): "He was awesome in that first half. I think Minnesota would have been in a bit of trouble offensively just because his shot making."
• S. Behrhenny ([07:04]): "They are shutting things off for the Wolves... generous steals because they love to play the gaps."
• Zena Cato ([25:44]): "How can gold from Amex sweeten your next food moment? Learn [e-mail]"

Note: The last quote appears to be part of an advertisement and may have been included unintentionally in the transcript.

Conclusion

The Thunder's ability to adapt and dominate in the second half underscored their championship aspirations, while the Timberwolves' early struggles present areas for improvement. As the series progresses, tactical adjustments and player performances will be pivotal in determining which team advances. The Athletic NBA Daily provided a comprehensive analysis, highlighting the critical factors that could influence the outcome of this high-stakes playoff series.

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Transcript

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[Zena Cato]

Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. I'm taking over for Dave DeFore, but I got Andrew and S here to talk about the Western Conference finals that just kicked off and okc. Look sharp. What's up, Andrew?

[Andrew]

What's up, S. What's up?

[S. Behrhenny]

Hey guys.

[Zena Cato]

Andrew is in the building for OKC's first game. Kind of crazy. OKC had so much time between their their first series and their second series and then they had to turn around and play against Minnesota for the first game of the Western Conference finals and they took it 114 to 88. And I'm not going to lie as I don't know if this felt that way when you were watching it on TV, but it felt quiet. Like, I don't know if ESPN's changed the broadcast, but that first quarter had a little bit of people quiet, a little nervous for okc, but things turned around. What'd you see out there as Yeah.

[Andrew]

I mean, I didn't think. I mean, look, the broadcast is always weird in the sense that sometimes the audio is a little muted. So I wonder if it is the Andrew, was it quiet in there at the start of the game?

[S. Behrhenny]

It. So if we're expecting the crowd to be as loud as game seven, then yes, it was quiet.

[Zena Cato]

But was it fair?

[S. Behrhenny]

Was it quiet? No, it was not. When you're the team that you're rooting for, though, shoots 35% from the field. Not a lot to cheer for. And when they, I mean, part of it too is that they were missing just easy shots. They're in the first quarter alone, they're one of four on layups and 04 and floater range. So like those whenever you're just missing easy shots and like the crowd is like the crowd is ready to pop, you know, at all times in Oklahoma City and when there's not really anything happening that's getting you there, I think it will mute the crowd a little bit. But I mean, that third quarter, the crowd was wild. The team was playing good and so like, yeah, they were alive then. But the fir the first half was just strange. Overall, I thought it was a very strange game. Like, statistically, when you look at it.

[Zena Cato]

The absolute brought up those layups because that really was one of the biggest difference makers. Just the points in the paint differential with the Thunder ending up 54, Timberwolves just 20 at one point going through the third quarter, you saw the Timberwolves put make as many threes as OKC had attempted, which was 13. And Minnesota had 41 threes attempted by the end of the third quarter. And this was a tale of two halves. S. You saw Julius Randle go off in the first half and then it felt like the fountain of Julius dried up in the second. Like, I. I've seen them, I've seen the defense obviously being able to keep them out of the paint in the second half. But Julius, let's. Let's start with him because I really feel like he's been having an unbelievable, glorious playoff run right now.

[Andrew]

Yeah, Randall was awesome in that first half. I mean, without him, I think Minnesota would have been in a bit of trouble offensively just because his shot making.

[Zena Cato]

He.

[Andrew]

I think he was four or five, three in that first half. The way that he was able to stretch the floor for Minnesota was massive because they were taking.

[S. Behrhenny]

Actually, he was. He was.

[Andrew]

There you go. Which he was awesome in that first half. And so like, the shot making in general was huge from Randall because they were. They were just taking a lot of threes. I will say you brought up the three point shooting aspect, the fact that Minnesota took 51 threes and OKC just took 21, but OKC ended up making 52% of their threes and Minnesota ended up shooting 29% from three. It's sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Andrew and I know we've talked about this before where it's like OKC will concede a lot of threes. Right. But they're so smart at targeting who is going to take that three, where they're going to take that three, and how contested that three ends up being. And I think it's sort of like Minnesota. Minnesota could walk away. I was listening to the post game and Anthony Edwards was like, yeah, we got good shots. You know, we should be confident in what we're going to see in game two. But like, should they approach this series the same way that they did tonight and taking the shots that OKC was willing to concede to them, you know.

[S. Behrhenny]

Yeah, it's a lot of grenades that happen, you know, in this one where it's. They are shutting things off for the wolves, you know, in the paint and they can't drive and kick like they want to, and then they just have to spray the ball out and then Hope that somebody makes a shot, which is not exactly a great recipe for success. And I think the Thunder, they feel good about the way that they played today. It took them a minute to. They called it to recalibrate because they had just played against Denver for seven straight games. It's mostly zone that's thrown at them. And Minnesota comes out and, man, and you're like, oh, my gosh. This almost like feels like a regular season game because of the way that things are. The defense is being played.

[Zena Cato]

There was one play that Shay walked up the floor. I think it was. It was in the third quarter. Julius Randle stops him at the free throw line. He takes one jab dribble, like, jab step dribble, backs up. And it looked like summer pickup. It looked like a practice game in the way that they played against the man. Defense versus the zone.

[S. Behrhenny]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They had room to get to their spots, and that was really big for them. And Shea even pointed this out because I was asking him about, like, what he thought about the defense, and he said, you know, Minnesota threw a zone at us in one play, and we immediately knew how to pick it apart because of the way that we played against Denver. And they immediately got a dunk against their zone, and I think they abandoned it after that.

[Andrew]

They are a learning machine. They are literally artificial intelligence. And I. It's like the. The offensive side there, they look that way. The defensive side. This was a clinical performance from OKC. I mean, they forced Minnesota into 17 turnovers. Tons of points in the paint. They got inside the paint often. Tons of points off turnovers as well. They dominated all of those metrics you look at as a team that just forces tons of turnovers constantly. One of the most aggressive defensive schemes ever. Really?

[S. Behrhenny]

Yep.

[Andrew]

I mean, this is the recipe to lose from Minnesota's perspective. You cannot turn the ball over like this as frequently as you did. Did. Did okc, like, anybody, post game mention the fact that, like, this was the way they wanted to play tonight was, you know, force turnovers, get things out and running? Or is that just the game plan every night?

[S. Behrhenny]

Well, we. We asked Mark about this all season, and this. His answer is always, it is not our game plan to get steals. Our game plan is to crowd teams in the middle, and it generates steals because, like, they love to play the gaps, and that is, like, a really important thing for them. And so. And because they play the gaps, they're going to get steals. So it's just, like a byproduct of what they're trying to do, but they're never like, hey, we're going to sell out. We need to make sure that we get, you know, six steals in the second half or something. It's like, no, we're just going to execute our scheme and as a byproduct of our scheme, we're going to get steals. And yeah, if you play fast, like it's going to benefit the Thunder. And I thought it was really interesting. The Thunder, I think dictated play tonight with their lineups and in the second half and specifically in the fourth quarter, you know, they didn't play Isaiah Hartenstein. They. They played small and Mark close this, like, close this game. Playing J dub at the 5 and playing all guards that were just so pesky with Shea. And they didn't have an answer for it because you get the ball to Nas Reed and you have Lou Dort there or you have Alex Caruso there, you have Case of Wallace there. It just makes them feel uncomfortable. And I think that was part of like how they shut Randall down in the second half was they denied the ball. They didn't allow him to get these shots that he was getting in the first half. And they put a smaller guy on him and they can, they're one of the few teams that can do that and it really bothers their bigs.

[Andrew]

It also forced Minnesota to go smaller. So they played Rudy Gobert 21 minutes in this game and they were like, man, we, we can't have Gobert out there against the arms of Cason. Wallace and Alex didn't play in the fourth either.

[S. Behrhenny]

Like didn't play one minute in the fourth.

[Zena Cato]

And it's worth, it's worth stating the stat. 19 turnovers for Minnesota leading to 31 transition points or, you know, points off of turnovers for okc. And I, I want to go back to the lineups conversation because I think that is why OKC is so damn dangerous. Like they not. Jalen Williams didn't play in this game. This is the same Jalen Williams that had significant minutes against Denver. He was a DNP in this game. You look at by the, by the end of the second, second quarter, four people had scored for Minnesota, nine people had scored for okc. There was just so many different pieces of evidence throughout this entire game that they had depth. And not only depth, they had depth that could do whatever it is that the last lineup could do. Right? It was that five out ball that was playing so well on offense, but it was also the fact that they could switch on everything or that they could dig down and be fast enough to sprint around if the ball got kicked out, you know, to Dante DiVincenzo or Neil Nikhil Alexander Walker, like those guys, Nas Reed, they were not hitting their outside shots well because there was constantly a hand in their face. And I'm looking at OKC and I'm like, yeah, the diversity in which you can go out and attack Minnesota is. I. I was like, looking at Minnesota like, I don't know what your answer is going to be because they still have the depth to have the aggression on defense that they need and. And still have the energy on offense that's required to be able to beat this team, whether it's in transition or in the half court. I don't know what the answer s is for Minnesota. If they want to be able to have that fountain of youth in the first half and still continue that into the second against a new lineup and a new lineup and a new lineup.

[Andrew]

Out of okc, they just have to hit shots. And I know that's such a simple answer. You know, shout out to Dwayne Casey. He said it was a make or miss league 10 years ago and it still is a maker miss. And so I just, I really think for Minnesota, it's making the shots that OKC is giving to you. You know, the corner threes that OKC likes to concede. You got to hit those shots. Dante DiVincenzo, Nas Reed and Nikhil Alexander Walker made seven of their 36 shots. Seven of 36.

[Zena Cato]

Out, out, out. Okay, well, I feel like before we go to break, I'm obliged to tell you that Nikhil Alexander Walker and Shell Gilgis Alexander are cousins. Yes.

[Andrew]

You didn't know this?

[Zena Cato]

You didn't know? Yeah, we're letting you know that as well. All right.

[Andrew]

They got the cousin watch on espn.

[Zena Cato]

There you go. Let's talk about Minnesota after the break.

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[Andrew]

Whoa.

[S]

I just found out you can earn up to 3% daily cash back on everyday purchases made with Apple car.

[Andrew]

Yeah, you can earn unlimited daily cash back with Apple card on every purchase. No matter where you check out with Apple pay, you always get daily cash.

[S]

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[Andrew]

What's better is that daily cash can automatically grow when you open a high yield savings account through Apple Card.

[S]

That's like endless plus one.

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[Dave DeFore]

You'Ve probably heard by now, we've teamed up with BetMGM this season. We'll be using BetMGM lines to make all of our picks and we'll have special offers for our listeners each week. If you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code TheAthletic and you'll get a one year subscription to the Athletic plus up to a 1500 dollars first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. Here's how it works. Download the BetMGM app and sign up using bonus code TheAthletic. Make your first deposit of at least ten dollars. Place your first bet on any game and claim your voucher for a one year subscription to the Athletic.

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See betmgm.com for terms. U.S. promotional offers not available in D.C. mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario or Puerto Rico gambling problem call 1-800- gambler available in the U.S. call 877-8-HOPENY or text 467-369 in New York, call 1-800-next step in Arizona, 1-800-327-5050 in Massachusetts, 1-800-bets off in Iowa, 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help in Michigan, 1-800-981-0023 in Puerto Rico. First bet offer for new customers only in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel.

[Dave DeFore]

Don't forget if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code TheAthletic and you'll get a one year subscription to the Athletic plus up to a fifteen hundred dollar first bet offer on your first wager.

[AMEX Announcer]

From Taco Night in Tulum to Sushi in Tokyo, every bite is rewarding and Pulse worthy with MX Gold's 4X Membership Rewards points at restaurants worldwide. Wherever you dine, points are piling up. So bring your friends along for your next course. Because it's not all about the posts, it's about the company and the memories. How can gold from Amex sweeten your next food moment? Learn [e-mail] Explore Gold terms and Points cap apply.

[Zena Cato]

All right, the Minnesota Timberwolves are officially 01 in this series, and you would be surprised to know that the personal foul count, even with the Jada McDaniels fouling out, was even. Yeah, even with Shay gilders Alexander shooting 14 free throws. Somehow Minnesota was not able to take advantage of the fact that fouls were.

[Andrew]

Let'S have the discussion.

[Zena Cato]

Let's have the discussion. Let's talk about this because I know a lot of people feel away. Even Anthony Edwards felt away when he threw the ball at Shay as he went down with another foul call.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zena Cato]

S. I know you have some thoughts, Andrew. I want to hear them right after.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah. What do we think about this? I will throw Andrew a lob here. Okay. I will just let you guys know immediately that I do not think the reason the Minnesota Timberwolves lost this game was because SGA took 14 free throws. We just listed out a bunch of different reasons why Minnesota lost this game. 3 point shooting points in the paint, all of the above, the turnovers, those are the reasons Minnesota lost Game 1. But the fouls are an aspect that naturally are something that you kind of have to deal with, especially because their best defender, Jada McDaniels, fouled out of this game. I think one of the huge parts of this game was when McDaniels picked up his fourth foul. The game sort of shifted from there. J Dub got in rhythm, SGA got in rhythm. Even Chet got in rhythm. We didn't talk about that much, but his fourth quarter was awesome. It really shifted the approach for Minnesota. So I can understand, like, mentally, the foul drawing changes and it kind of wears on you. But SGA also, and Andrew, I'm sure you know, this lives in the paint. He took 16 shots in the paint tonight. He averages 11 on the season. Okay. He's one of the best, if not the best driver in the NBA next to Giannis Antonpo. There's nobody else that drives like those two. So, yeah, he's going to draw a lot of fouls. Does he do the dark arts? Does he. Does he know to twist and bend in the right way to get the right type of call? Yes, naturally. But, Andrew, I have to ask you this, okay, because this is my opinion. This is how I feel about the foul drawing situation. How do people. How does. How does, like, Shay feel about this? How does Shea feel about the grifting conversation whenever it's brought up to him?

[S. Behrhenny]

He doesn't care.

[Zena Cato]

Right?

[S. Behrhenny]

He frankly doesn't care. Because, I mean, here's the deal. Somehow ethical basketball has become a thing that we talk about now, and everybody just wants the game to be played in a particular way. But the problem with that is, okay, well, then you can't love Michael Jordan or Allen Iverson, Drew Flowers or Kobe Bryant or any of these guys that everyone's like, oh, man, the greatest of all time. The goats.

[Andrew]

Yep. LeBron.

[S. Behrhenny]

LeBron. And. And like. And then say, like, at the same Time. We don't like this from Shea.

[Zena Cato]

Sure.

[S. Behrhenny]

Then, like, the fact is, you haven't watched basketball because almost every single great player did this. Like, they look for, look for advantages, look for ways to gain an advantage for their team. And part of that is especially with. In the first half when the Thunder had nothing going. I mean, they had nothing going.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[S. Behrhenny]

Except for Shea getting to the free throw line. I mean, that really kind of saved their butts in the first quarter because they couldn't. They could not make a layup. They couldn't make a three. They had nothing going. And so, yeah, this is part of the game. You can be frustrated by it. Sure. But like, Jokic does it. What do we think about him? Best player in the world, right?

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[S. Behrhenny]

She's going to win the mvp. It's going to be announced tomorrow night and on Wednesday night. And listen.

[Andrew]

Oh, is it official? Do we finally know that it's going to be.

[S. Behrhenny]

Yeah, it's official here on the Athletic NBA.

[Zena Cato]

But you heard it here first, folks.

[S. Behrhenny]

Yeah, it's. It is. It is bizarre. I think the pushback. I think the ethical basketball pushback on what has been basketball for as long as we've known it.

[Zena Cato]

Well, the thing about. I see what you're saying in terms of like, especially the older players and this is what they've done. I think the game has changed in terms of how the game is called, the physicality level. Of course, we've said that word a million times. The buzzword of 20, 25, physicality. And that is probably why the folks that are complaining about it are talking about the product. Right. The stoppages, the amount of times that we're stopping the flow of the game because there are, you know, Shay's going to the basket and he's getting free throws shot. Nine free throws in the first half. And folks were on all up and down my X timeline being like, oh, again, again. And what's funny about it is, like we talked about in today's game, it happens. Like you look at Jokic, I mean, how funny would it be if you had free throw Merchant against free throw Merchant and Jalen Brunson versus Shay Gilchrist Alexander. Right. It happens. But at the end of the day, it's what you're saying, Andrew, these players are smart. They're playing to the game that's being allowed to happen. Now, I will say I have seen the photos, I have seen the screenshots of Shay going into the paint and making the faces. It's potentially. I haven't heard it with sound but potentially making sounds, you know, feigning being hit.

[Andrew]

And hey, I think it's a skill. I think it's a skill. I mean, look, we Oscar winners do.

[Zena Cato]

You can hate him all you want, but hey, it works. Like, he's smart, he's helping his team. As you mentioned, Andrew, he helped save this team when there was nothing going on. And again, nine free throws in the first half, only five in the second. Guess what? He didn't do it as much when the offense started flowing. So it is a factor of, let me just get my team going. Let me do something to help my team. Are you going to be mad at that? Can't be mad at that.

[S. Behrhenny]

Well, listen, listen, like, this is a skill that Anthony Edwards would like to have too. I mean, how many times has he driven to the basket and yelled, hey, right after he goes up?

[Zena Cato]

And by the way, Anthony, shot chart tonight. No. Only one made basket at the rim.

[S. Behrhenny]

Yeah.

[Zena Cato]

And that was the only attempt.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Minnesota in general, I think they had like 10 points in the paint.

[Zena Cato]

That was the only attempt. Anthony Edwards.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Zena Cato]

Michael Jordan's son, right? Not officially, but you know what I'm saying in terms of like the play one shot attempt in the paint, like, that's unacceptable. So you really can't get upset at the foul merchant if you're not even trying. Are you in the market for it? Like, you gotta go to the market and see what you can get.

[S. Behrhenny]

Yeah. I think this is also a byproduct of the Thunder seeing man to man defense for the first time in like two weeks and just thinking, oh, freedom.

[Andrew]

Yeah, finally.

[S. Behrhenny]

This is, this is bad. Basketball's back is kind of how it felt. And like the Thunder are back because it felt, to be honest, this game had the feel of a regular season game to me. Like, this did not have the feel of or the intensity of a playoff game to me. I thought the crowd was there, but I didn't think from what I was watching, it just didn't feel to have like the tension on the court that a playoff game typically does. And I think some of that is that, yes, the Thunder had a really bad first half thing. They shot 37% from the field. But I was like, man, they're getting to their spots. Yeah, they're, they're finding creases in this defense very easily. And if they can just focus and maybe not overthink everything and like overpass everything, which is something I think they were doing, like, they're going to crack this defense really quick and that's what happened in the second half was that they were able to crack the defense. And like I said, like, they threw zone there for a second and like, they quickly went away from it. Chris Finch even talked about that before the game. He said that, you know, they had been good at zone last season with their personnel, and then this season, for whatever reason, they could not really play zone. And I think part of that is, like, when you have like a four man like Randall, like, you need that four man has got to be like a menace on defense like Aaron Gordon was. And I think Gordon, like, really made that zone work. We talked about it after game seven, how whenever he was ineffective, the Thunder cracked it fast.

[Zena Cato]

Yeah.

[S. Behrhenny]

And so that zone, at least for today, didn't work. I wonder if they go back to it against the Thunder in game two. But I also, I'm kind of with s like this. They're not going to shoot this bad again. It's not going to play this poorly again.

[Andrew]

Yeah, they can't. No. Yeah, there's no.

[S. Behrhenny]

And so I think they. There's going to be a game. Yeah, like, there's a. There's a. Going to be a game where they shoot, you know, 40% from three, and then the Thunder are in huge trouble. And so I do think that there will be adjustments made. They will make shots. You know, Jaden McDaniels will make more corner threes. You know, Anthony Edwards will make more than three of eight from three. You know, Mike Conley is one of five. DiVincenzo was three of 12, Nikhil was two of nine. But those guys are going to make shots in a game.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[S. Behrhenny]

And then, like, we'll have. We'll have a game that'll be tight or we'll have a game where Minnesota blows out okc. Like, that's going to be part of this series. It's going to go back and forth. And so, like, yeah, OKC has got to feel really good after this one. I think that they have a lot of answers to the problems that Minnesota is trying to pose to them. But, like, we just have to remember this is a series. This is going to go back and forth. Minnesota is a very good basketball team, and I think they'll. They'll have adjustments moving forward, and some of it can be as simple as make or miss.

[Andrew]

Can I leave you guys with a stat?

[S. Behrhenny]

Yep.

[Andrew]

So I just saw this, but most 100 runs in a single season since 1996, 1997. Oklahoma City now has 106, 100 runs, which is just absurd to consider.

[Zena Cato]

Ridiculous.

[Andrew]

The 21, 22 Golden State warriors had 98. So that's the difference. Like the. The ability to kind of flip on that switch is what is making the difference in these series for okc. And they're able to turn on the switch better than basically anybody in the league for the last 20 plus years, which is just absurd to think of for this Thunder team. But three more wins until the finals.

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[Zena Cato]

Yeah, that 20 to 6 run in the third quarter was painful. If you're Minnesota to just watch, no way you could stop them. It felt as if Minnesota was a fence, right earlier in the first half, they kept OKC out of the paint. They were struggling, and then all of a sudden, things just opened up. OkC, as you mentioned. I love that S. They were like, A.I. they learned very quickly and made those adjustments. And so now I want to ask you guys both quickly, do you think Minnesota can steal one on the road against OKC the way they're playing?

[Andrew]

Yeah, I think so. I absolutely think so.

[Zena Cato]

In this. In the first two games at least, do you think they could steal the next one?

[Andrew]

100%. 100%. They just have to shoot better and take care of the ball. I would not be surprised if Minnesota responds in a big way because. Yeah, yeah, I think Minnesota deserves that level of credit, honestly. I think they're a good, deep team. This was like the worst case scenario for them tonight. They literally had the worst type of game against OKC in terms of turnovers and missing their shots. They could bounce back.

[Zena Cato]

Yeah, Andrew.

[S. Behrhenny]

Yeah, I mean, they definitely can bounce back. Well, will they? Is another question. I think that they have. They have a lot to look at. You know, they have a lot to look at with this tape because OKC gave them a ton of problems. The fact that they can go super small. I don't know that they have an answer for that. And so the fact that Mark was like, throwing that out in the fourth quarter and basically saying, hey, this is the way that we prefer to play against you, and you're a big team, but we prefer to dictate terms this way. And so I wonder how they actually respond to that, because I think that, you know, we. We often times, us basketball nerds love to actually defend Rudy Gobert, because I think everybody else loves to hate on him. And so, like, we like to defend the guy and like, okay, we can actually play. The Thunder just played him, like, completely off the court tonight.

[Andrew]

Absolutely.

[S. Behrhenny]

Like, there was. There was no place for him in this game.

[Zena Cato]

He was setting good screens. He was, you know, finding his way into the offense. But you're absolutely right. That dunker spot was getting blown up with him in the back. He, he was not able to stop and trap the box and stop drivers and such. I mean, it was, it was bad.

[S. Behrhenny]

Yeah. And so I wonder how they adjust from there. And it's this is a, to me, this is a going to be a very tactical series and I think Chris Finch is a very good coach and I think that he'll have some answers. But to me, it all comes down to can they dictate terms at all in the series? And if they can, then absolutely they can win some games. They can win a game too, I think. But if OKC continues to dictate terms with lineups, I think this is going to be a very, very difficult series for Minnesota.

[Zena Cato]

Yeah, I'm with you. I'm 1000% with you. Thank you, Andrew, for always being on site for us, giving us that OKC insight. S. Behrhenny, of course, and myself, Zena Cato, we appreciate you guys tuning in with us. Enjoy the rest of your day. It's been the NBA Daily.

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