Oklahoma City has looked dominant through the first two games against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it might be unrealistic to expect the same thing in Game 3 in Minnesota. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played just like an MVP should, and Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren both rounded out solid performances in Game 2, making the Thunder’s big 3 look unstoppable. The Timberwolves aren’t going to go quietly into the night, though.
The awards have been rolling in for OKC, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander announced as NBA MVP on Wednesday before Luguentz Dort was named to the All-NBA Defensive First Team and Jalen Williams to the All-NBA Second Team on Thursday. More announcements were made on Friday as SGA was named to his third straight All-NBA First Team and Jalen Williams to his first All-NBA Third Team. Those types of accolades just fuel the confidence of this youthful Thunder squad, and it’s clear they don’t just think they’re the best team in the league: they’re playing like it, too.
As for Minnesota, they have looked out of sorts in the Western Conference Finals so far. Anthony Edwards has played at a high level, but he’s not had any consistent help elsewhere. Julius Randle had a big Game 1 before being played off the floor in Game 2, and Jaden McDaniels hit some shots in Game 2 after fouling out in Game 1. Still, the Timberwolves have yet to have a good game as a team, and it would make sense that the home crowd could offer the energy that they need to try to get back into the series.
OKC is a slight favorite ahead of Game 3, and history says they have extremely high odds to win the series: teams who go up 2-0 in a Conference Finals go on to win the series 90.9% of the time (60-6). Expect the Thunder to go right back to the ‘0-0’ mentality for Game 3, though, as they know all too well that the series is not over. This game will serve as a big test for a young squad looking to write its name in the NBA history books despite being the youngest and most inexperienced team in the league.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 7:30 PM CT
Location: Target Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Television: ABC
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @ZacharyLowNBA for live tweets and discussion during the game
Game Notes: Oklahoma City Thunder Official Game Notes, Minnesota Timberwolves Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Luguentz Dort
- SF: Jalen Williams
- PF: Chet Holmgren
- C: Isaiah Hartenstein
Timberwolves
- PG: Mike Conley
- SG: Anthony Edwards
- SF: Jaden McDaniels
- PF: Julius Randle
- C: Rudy Gobert
Injury Report
Thunder
- Nikola Topic (left knee surgery) is OUT.
Timberwolves
- NONE
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 40-26 against the Timberwolves (20-12 at home, 20-14 on the road) and 2-0 in the Playoffs (2-0 at home, 0-0 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the 4-game regular season series against the Timberwolves 9 times, lost it 3 times, and tied it 4 times.
- The Thunder went 2-2 against the Timberwolves in the regular season (1-1 at home, 1-1 on the road).
- OKC leads Minnesota 2-0 in the Western Conference Finals (2-0 at home, 0-0 on the road).