WCF Game 4, 5/26: OKC @ Timberwolves, 7:30 PM CST

[Dadouv47]

Just came in peace to say that you guys have an amazing team and I hope we can close this in 5 because your team is scary good. It took OKC best game in the playoffs by a pretty big margin to win a close one. I was so wrong about Gobert and his overall impact because he's such a great anchor. His game will age well and ANT isn't in his prime yet so you guys are gonna be a problem for a long time.

[TheProdigy]

We're in real trouble going forward with getting the right mix. I think the Rudy era is over. We're almost forced to re-sign Randle. Randle is an inconsistent turn-over type player. Poor defender too. He's not a guy you can count on nightly. We're in trouble. We would have been much better keeping Kat and trading Rudy to get under the cap.

Jesus every loss people just want to throw anyone under the bus. Gross fandom

I guess 1 for 7 for 5 points with 3 assists and 5 turnovers, along with putrid defense and rebounding in the biggest game of his life, must seem amazing to someone like yourself.

You should not try to imagine what a fanbase like Philadelphia or Boston or New York would be saying right now.
I don't think you could handle it.

Not only was Julius missing his shots, but he was making ugly mistakes all night… Running 10 seconds off the shot clock trying to beat Dort 1on1, not boxing out, losing back door cutters.

[younggunsmn]

This was our shot.

Going to be looking at Thunder vs Spurs WCFinals for the next 5 or 6 years unless we can strike gold in the draft or trade market in the near future.

We're in real trouble going forward with getting the right mix. I think the Rudy era is over. We're almost forced to re-sign Randle. Randle is an inconsistent turn-over type player. Poor defender too. He's not a guy you can count on nightly. We're in trouble. We would have been much better keeping Kat and trading Rudy to get under the cap.

So many important choices this offseason that could make or break our future.

Who to re-sign and for how much between NAW/NAZ/Randle.
Who to take at 17 and 31, huge huge draft picks.
Exploring the Rudy trade market. Maybe the 2nd team all-defense will get another team to bite.
Finding a true PG to play with Ant besides Mike.

Personally, I feel like if we sign Julius Randle to a big multi-year contract we are finished as a contending team and Ant will be playing somewhere else 3 or 4 years from now because it will severely limit our options of who to add around Ant, besides locking in an unreliable and mediocre player into a very key role.

But who do you replace him with?

Do you move Jaden down to the 4 and feature DDV as a wing like he should be with TJ getting his current rotational role, and bring in another PG like Tyus Jones to pair with Mike? Draft a PF like Fleming or Yaxel to develop at the 4 and re-sign Naz.

Jaden is just too damn talented to continue to get such low usage on offense.

[younggunsmn]

Jesus every loss people just want to throw anyone under the bus. Gross fandom

I guess 1 for 7 for 5 points with 3 assists and 5 turnovers, along with putrid defense and rebounding in the biggest game of his life, must seem amazing to someone like yourself.

You should not try to imagine what a fanbase like Philadelphia or Boston or New York would be saying right now.
I don't think you could handle it.

Not only was Julius missing his shots, but he was making ugly mistakes all night… Running 10 seconds off the shot clock trying to beat Dort 1on1, not boxing out, losing back door cutters.

End of 3rd quarter when he chucked a 3 with 9 seconds on the shot clock and 11 left in the quarter, and OKC went down and scored a basket on the other end to push the lead to 5. Margin of victory right there.

[guest81]

We're in real trouble going forward with getting the right mix. I think the Rudy era is over. We're almost forced to re-sign Randle. Randle is an inconsistent turn-over type player. Poor defender too. He's not a guy you can count on nightly. We're in trouble. We would have been much better keeping Kat and trading Rudy to get under the cap.

Jesus every loss people just want to throw anyone under the bus. Gross fandom

I guess 1 for 7 for 5 points with 3 assists and 5 turnovers, along with putrid defense and rebounding in the biggest game of his life, must seem amazing to someone like yourself.

You should not try to imagine what a fanbase like Philadelphia or Boston or New York would be saying right now.
I don't think you could handle it.

Every nba player in the history of the league has had a bad game with big stakes

[younggunsmn]

Just came in peace to say that you guys have an amazing team and I hope we can close this in 5 because your team is scary good. It took OKC best game in the playoffs by a pretty big margin to win a close one. I was so wrong about Gobert and his overall impact because he's such a great anchor. His game will age well and ANT isn't in his prime yet so you guys are gonna be a problem for a long time.

Likewise and I hope our teams see each other in the WCF next year too.

If your team is going get beat in the playoffs it's better to lose to a team playing really really well, and losing to another small market takes a bit of the sting out of it too.
If we aren't able to come back I hope you sweep Indiana in the finals.

[younggunsmn]

Jesus every loss people just want to throw anyone under the bus. Gross fandom

I guess 1 for 7 for 5 points with 3 assists and 5 turnovers, along with putrid defense and rebounding in the biggest game of his life, must seem amazing to someone like yourself.

You should not try to imagine what a fanbase like Philadelphia or Boston or New York would be saying right now.
I don't think you could handle it.

Every nba player in the history of the league has had a bad game with big stakes

Probably the 2 worst games from a high usage player in the entire playoff, in this series.
Make his horrible knicks performances vs Miami and Atlanta look like sunshine and rainbows.

[younggunsmn]

One interesting stat, we had more turnovers tonight (21) than the Thunder had defensive rebounds (17).
That's pretty crazy.

We lost 4 more possessions from turnovers than we did from missed shots.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

This was our shot.

Going to be looking at Thunder vs Spurs WCFinals for the next 5 or 6 years unless we can strike gold in the draft or trade market in the near future.

We're in real trouble going forward with getting the right mix. I think the Rudy era is over. We're almost forced to re-sign Randle. Randle is an inconsistent turn-over type player. Poor defender too. He's not a guy you can count on nightly. We're in trouble. We would have been much better keeping Kat and trading Rudy to get under the cap.

So many important choices this offseason that could make or break our future.

Who to re-sign and for how much between NAW/NAZ/Randle.
Who to take at 17 and 31, huge huge draft picks.
Exploring the Rudy trade market. Maybe the 2nd team all-defense will get another team to bite.
Finding a true PG to play with Ant besides Mike.

Personally, I feel like if we sign Julius Randle to a big multi-year contract we are finished as a contending team and Ant will be playing somewhere else 3 or 4 years from now because it will severely limit our options of who to add around Ant, besides locking in an unreliable and mediocre player into a very key role.

But who do you replace him with?

Do you move Jaden down to the 4 and feature DDV as a wing like he should be with TJ getting his current rotational role, and bring in another PG like Tyus Jones to pair with Mike? Draft a PF like Fleming or Yaxel to develop at the 4 and re-sign Naz.

Jaden is just too damn talented to continue to get such low usage on offense.

Interesting take and i agree with your points. We will have an interesting off season. We make 2 WCF in a row, i can bet that we lose this year against a team who will be NBA champ quite easily. Future looks good if the off season decision are the right one.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

One interesting stat, we had more turnovers tonight (21) than the Thunder had defensive rebounds (17).
That's pretty crazy.

We lost 4 more possessions from turnovers than we did from missed shots.

And near half of those turnovers were ANT and Randle properties.... We knew at the beginning of the series that turnover would make a huge difference.

[KGdaBom]

I watched the game with a friend at the casino tonight. Maybe my not posting cost us 3 points. I take the blame for the loss.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

19 Offensive rebound, 21 TO give too many possessions to OKC. SGA shoot only 13/30 so he was not that good. I watch players ITW and Finch one and they all point out those 2 data. Chet was the main reason, he totally dominated Julius.

[KGdaBom]

Our bench outscored our starters tonight. If the starters had 3 more points we win.

[Dewey]

19 Offensive rebound, 21 TO give too many possessions to OKC. SGA shoot only 13/30 so he was not that good. I watch players ITW and Finch one and they all point out those 2 data. Chet was the main reason, he totally dominated Julius.

Plus … defenses look superior when offenses stop moving the ball. We held the ball, dribbled too much, and could not see the trees in the forest.

OKC got physical immediately and the officials let them have at it. The Wolves … they just took it more or less.

Not one of Finches better games.

Randle will not be a Wolf next year,

[Worm Guts]

It's frustrating we can lose when we shoot so well, but we were both sloppy with the ball and slow to lose balls.

[Calinks]

One interesting stat, we had more turnovers tonight (21) than the Thunder had defensive rebounds (17).
That's pretty crazy.

We lost 4 more possessions from turnovers than we did from missed shots.

We got a great game from our bench, I think overall its the 2nd or 3rd A game we have played all playoffs outside of the major problem of Ant and Julius not being up to task.

[jpatrick]

19 Offensive rebound, 21 TO give too many possessions to OKC. SGA shoot only 13/30 so he was not that good. I watch players ITW and Finch one and they all point out those 2 data. Chet was the main reason, he totally dominated Julius.

Plus … defenses look superior when offenses stop moving the ball. We held the ball, dribbled too much, and could not see the trees in the forest.

OKC got physical immediately and the officials let them have at it. The Wolves … they just took it more or less.

Not one of Finches better games.

Randle will not be a Wolf next year,

I get the frustration and Randle was terrible last night, but Randle has been great the last half of the year and through the playoffs. If we could extend him at 3/90m, I’d do it. Naz isn’t near a starter on a good team; and even if Randle opts in, we’re not getting real value in a trade.

I hate to say this, but OKC is better than us. SGA and Ant are a wash. J-Will better two-way player than Randle. He’s really good defensively. And Chet gives so much more than Gobert. Love Rudy, but unless he’s absolutely dominating the glass, he doesn’t give enough on a championship team to offset his offensive deficiencies. The rest of the two rosters are pretty similar. Both teams have good depth/shooting.

[minimus]

I hate to say this, but OKC is better than us

I like to think that top four teams in these playoffs are good example of GM work:

- Presti built roster around SGA by identifying talent and adding quality veterans such as Hartenstein, Caruso
- NYK did unbelievable job to find way to get Towns, Anunoby and Bridges
- Indiana re-built without having high picks
- MIN went twice to WCF after YEARS of misery

[bluethunder0005]

I know we all want to blame the turnovers, but the simple fact of the matter is OKC is forcing a lot of those turnovers because they are great defensively. There's a reason why every team they've faced averages a ton of turnovers a game. Memphis averaged 18.3 a game against them, Denver averaged 16.6, and the Wolves are at 15.5 and the Wolves don't even really have a second primary ball handler on the perimeter or the best player in the game (Jokic).

The offensive rebounds sucked but both teams got 19 and a lot of theirs were simply long misses that bounced their way.

I'm not even mad at Ant. He's 23 and the Thunder are stacked with great perimeter defenders and they're constantly throwing 2 or 3 of those defenders at him. There is a reason why everyone else had such open 3s and it's because of Ant's presence. I know he's a star and he's our best player but let's quit acting like he's supposed to be MJ out there and just beat any defense you throw at him. You know what MJ did at age 23, got swept by Boston in the first round of the playoffs. SGA at age 23 didn't even make the playoffs and at age 24 he lost in the 8th seed play-in game against the Wolves.

I know as a fan it sucks but sometimes we act like we'd just go 98-0 if we didn't beat ourselves and that's just not the case. The Thunder are simply a better team than us.

[KGdaBom]

It's so frustrating. We were one good play away from winning this game. Freaking Chet Holmgren destroyed us. Ant and Randle both failed to score much. Now we have the virtually impossible task of winning 3 straight and two of those in OKC.