OKLAHOMA CITY — Four minutes into a Western Conference finals headlined by two of the NBA’s brightest young stars, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards made it clear that he wanted Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to knock off the funny business.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the MVP finalist whose ability to draw fouls has long frustrated opposing players and rival fanbases, was lying flat on the court after earning a whistle. Edwards, already a three-time all-star at age 23, flipped the ball off Gilgeous-Alexander’s leg, an intentionally dismissive act that prompted a technical foul.
Shortly before halftime, Gilgeous-Alexander fell to the court again while trying to free himself from Edwards’s attentive defense. Edwards stood over Gilgeous-Alexander this time, straddling the Canadian guard’s body so that he couldn’t easily stand up. Once both players were vertical, Edwards shoved Gilgeous-Alexander in the chest and was called for a foul.
Edwards’s attempts to shame and physically challenge Gilgeous-Alexander hardly fazed the Thunder star. Rather than trade trash talk or go chest-to-chest with his counterpart, Gilgeous-Alexander shook off a poor first half and methodically led the Thunder to a 114-88 blowout victory in Game 1 at Paycom Center on Tuesday. If Edwards had intended to send a message that Gilgeous-Alexander needed to stop flopping and play basketball, Gilgeous-Alexander calmly responded by showing him the full force of Oklahoma City’s considerable powers.
The top-seeded Thunder needed two quarters to adjust to the Timberwolves, who are more athletic and aggressive than the Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City’s second-round opponent. Against Denver, Gilgeous-Alexander often stared down zone defenses that were designed to encourage three-point attempts and slower, more passive play. Minnesota, by contrast, prefers to apply pressure to ballhandlers outside the three-point line, trusting that center Rudy Gobert will help on any drives that make it into the paint.
“[The defense] felt different [compared with Denver] from jump,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “More pressure-oriented, and a little more physical. They throw you a problem, and you have to solve it. It’s always a chess match. They make a move; you make a move. It’s going to be like that throughout the series.”
Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder were initially left flummoxed by the stark contrast in defensive styles. Minnesota held Oklahoma City to just 40 points in the first half, and Gilgeous-Alexander made only two of his first 13 shot attempts. Hounded by Edwards and forward Jaden McDaniels, Gilgeous-Alexander tossed up wild jumpers and missed several layup attempts.
The sixth-seeded Timberwolves were banking on this exact formula to upset the Thunder: Do whatever it takes to throw Gilgeous-Alexander off his game, then hope Oklahoma City’s young supporting cast would be unable to pick up the slack. Despite offensive struggles of its own, Minnesota, which made quick work of the Golden State Warriors in the second round, took a 48-44 halftime lead and seemed poised to capitalize on its four extra days of rest in the second half.
Alas, Gilgeous-Alexander made the necessary adjustments to unlock the Timberwolves, while Edwards was rendered ineffective by the Thunder’s breathtaking perimeter defense. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with a game-high 31 points to go with nine assists and five rebounds, making eight of his 14 shots in the second half. Edwards, meanwhile, finished with 18 points on 5-for-13 shooting, and he managed just five points after halftime.
“It took us a second to calibrate to the opponent,” Thunder Coach Mark Daigneault said. “[Gilgeous-Alexander] keeps himself in it. He has a great emotional temperament. I thought he was really in attack mode tonight. He had a good blend. He was really driving it and putting a lot of pressure on them, which is what you have to do.”
Oklahoma City blew open a low-scoring affair in the third quarter, as Gilgeous-Alexander found his patented midrange touch. With the Thunder threatening to pull away using small-ball lineups, Timberwolves Coach Chris Finch benched Gobert in favor of smaller and more versatile units that struggled to protect the rim. Minnesota’s soft middle enabled Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams to generate a steady flow of inside-the-arc scoring.
McDaniels, Minnesota’s best perimeter defender, soon found himself in serious foul trouble, and the floodgates opened further for Oklahoma City. Once Finch punted the game and cleared his bench with two minutes left, the Timberwolves had suffered their worst loss of the playoffs and had been outscored by 23 points with Edwards on the court.
“There was a lot of frustration [with the fouls on Gilgeous-Alexander] out there,” Finch said. “We talked about that before the series started. We have to be able to put that to the side and get on with the next play.”
For all his tone-setting bluster, Edwards faded badly in the second half. The Thunder deployed a rotating cast of defenders on the Timberwolves star, and they packed the paint to discourage him from driving to the hoop. Minnesota was way too eager to settle for looks from the outside, attempting 51 three-pointers compared with only 32 shots from inside the arc. That imbalance proved decisive because the Timberwolves’ second unit combined to shoot 5 for 29 (17.2 percent) on three-pointers.
“I’ve definitely got to shoot more,” Edwards said. “I took 13 f—-ing shots. It’s kind of hard to get to the paint. [The Thunder] definitely took that aspect of my game away tonight. They put four bodies in the paint and make you kick it out. They remind me of an AAU defensive team: They run, jump and fly around.”
Edwards, who finished with three assists and four turnovers, was never able to find the appropriate adjustments as Minnesota’s offense unraveled. When his driving lanes dried up, he stopped attacking and deferred too often to teammates such as Donte DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid who were clearly suffering through off nights. With no pushback, Oklahoma City won the second half 70-40 even though it had only one day off after its Game 7 victory over Denver.
“We didn’t have a lot of patience in the second half,” Finch said. “We’ve got to pick up our decision-making [on offense]. We’ve definitely got to play with more force. We’ve got to play with more pass-pass combinations, and we’ve got to go somewhere a little bit quicker. There were a lot of useless ball screens. We kind of created our own congestion at the top of the floor unnecessarily.”
Timberwolves forward Julius Randle scored a team-high 28 points — including 20 in the first half — but his strong showing was squandered without the proper balance from Edwards. While the Timberwolves’ supporting cast can certainly shoot better from outside, living and dying by the three-point shot against the disciplined and relentless Thunder leaves little margin for error. And unfortunately for Minnesota, the 7-foot-1 Gobert will have a hard time keeping up with Oklahoma City’s collective speed and perimeter firepower.
There’s no way around it: Edwards must collapse the defense, get to the rim and create a wider variety of high-percentage scoring opportunities for his teammates. Minnesota can take heart knowing Edwards gradually settled in and gathered momentum as playoff series victories over the Los Angeles Lakers and Warriors unfolded.
But the Thunder, which improved to 9-3 in the postseason with a whopping plus-14 point differential, is clearly a class above the Lakers and Warriors thanks to its superb defense, lineup versatility and depth. For those reasons, the Timberwolves’ hopes of reaching the Finals start with Edwards finding a way to outclass Gilgeous-Alexander in the battle of the stars.
“[Edwards] will play better than he played tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s a long series. We’ve just got to be ready for whatever.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
