2025 WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #6 Minnesota Timberwolves (OKC leads 1-0)

[levon]

JDubb needs to show up.

[bbms]

actually i think it's ihart/caruso on randle and chet/jdub on gobert.

jdub would really thrive at a free safety role vs an offense that makes as much extra passes as the wolves.

jaylin should be a value piece on randle too just like he was on jokic.

[Clav]

I've been waiting for a WCF like this for the better part of 30 years of my life. The dream WCF for me (until Seattle is back, these are my two primary teams )

That's primarily Minnesota's fault only reaching WCF twice in my lifetime, losing both. Seattle and/or OKC have 5 appearances since I've been alive, losing 3. Both OKC and SEA advanced but went on to lose in the Finals.

Safe to say this is probably my best chance so far for an NBA Title as a fan in my lifetime. Though I know it will have to come at the expense of Pacers or Knicks losing, I still appreciate the East teams still in it, as they have also long suffered to see a Finals run, so good luck to both. Thunder Up and Go Wolves, Ayoooooooooo!

[Thunder in 6]

[Ethomasp31]

Wolves in 6....by the end of the series it will be evident that ANT is better than SGA and that Randle is better than OKC's second best player. The Wolves are dawgs...OKC seems soft. I can see their coach squinting up at the scoreboard wondering how his team is getting beat. Wolves have been to the WCF's....OKC isn't ready to take the next step.

I can't wait for the excuses to start to flow from the OKC fans.

[dakomish23]

I want to see what happens with Joe this series. It seems like he could be a trade candidate this summer with Wallace becoming entrenched as the 3rd guard for his two way play. And if that happens, I think there will be a lot of suitors.

[bisme37]

From NBA.com:

WELCOME TO THE WEST FINALS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW




The Thunder and Timberwolves now meet in their pursuits of history, riding superstar guards and two of the league’s best defenses all the way to the Western Conference Finals.

The Thunder, led by SGA, Williams and Chet Holmgren, are coming off a historic regular season in which they eclipsed the 1971-72 Lakers (+12.3) for the best point differential of all-time (+12.9) – and they’ve showed no signs of slowing down.

Shai Stays Steady: Gilgeous-Alexander has seven games of 30+ points in the Playoffs, including five in the seven-game triumph over the Nuggets

All Pluses: SGA is leading the Thunder at +115 in the Playoffs, with second-year standout Cason Wallace one point behind at +114, including his poster jam in Game 7

A Defensive Star: Wallace is leading the Playoffs with a 92.1 DefRtg (min.15 mpg), while Caruso, at 96.3, is the only other player under 100




The Wolves, led by superstar Anthony Edwards, have found their stride in the Playoffs, rising from the No. 6 seed to a second straight West Finals.

On The Prowl: The Wolves compiled the third-best record in the West since March 1 at 17-4 – the Thunder were best at 20-3

Finding A Way: They’re averaging more points in the clutch than any team remaining, led by Edwards (3.8 pts, 50.0% from 3)

Strength vs. Strength: Ant faced Lu Dort more than any other defender this season, scoring 19 points on 37.5% FG over 29:32 minutes. He’ll have to get past the tireless Thunder wing this series

Always A Presence: Jaden McDaniels is leading the Wolves at +84 during the Playoffs, averaging 15.4 ppg on 55.4% shooting

Edwards is 9-7 versus SGA in his career, with Shai averaging 29.8 ppg to Edwards’ 20.9 ppg – including a 2-2 mark this season, as their teams split the season series.

“He’s the MVP,” Ant said of SGA earlier this season. But which superstar will advance to their first NBA Finals?

[levon]

Wolves in 6....by the end of the series it will be evident that ANT is better than SGA and that Randle is better than OKC's second best player. The Wolves are dawgs...OKC seems soft. I can see their coach squinting up at the scoreboard wondering how his team is getting beat. Wolves have been to the WCF's....OKC isn't ready to take the next step.

I can't wait for the excuses to start to flow from the OKC fans.

I can see this happening. On the other hand the Wolves are a markedly dumber team than the Nuggets, and OKC has been tested far more than Minny has in its series. We've repeatedly seen the team coming off a Game 7 to be sharper than the one that's been waiting around.

I also think Caruso and Dort can really stymie Edwards and they actually have the rim defense to shut him out from the paint too. There's gonna be a healthy diet of Randle isos against two bigs, with both bigs being able to roam off Gobert often.

.

[WestbrookGOATed]

OKC frontcourt is a bit too small for MIN. Randle should bully Chet and Gobert can ignore iHart for the most part and roam. And Reid should dominate this series

OKC small ball doesn't shoot well enough to run MIN off the floor.

MIN in 6

The Warriors gave them trouble and their bigs are non existent.

The warriors gave them trouble?
Tf? They won the series in 5 and Julius bodied Draymond or whoever guarded him. Stop it.

The Timberwolves were flat out unimpressive. Golden State was controlling that series until Steph got hurt. And they were a play in team

[MoneyTalks41890]

All this talk about Minny being physical and OKC being soft. Just remember that when the OKC guards are swarming and folks start to whine.

[Ethomasp31]

The Warriors gave them trouble and their bigs are non existent.

The warriors gave them trouble?
Tf? They won the series in 5 and Julius bodied Draymond or whoever guarded him. Stop it.

The Timberwolves were flat out unimpressive. Golden State was controlling that series until Steph got hurt. And they were a play in team

Steph played a quarter and a half lmao!!

[syrus3]

Because the refs don’t call fouls against the street merchants. You’d whine too. But someone already said it best. They let these these guards get away with murder against bigs.

[The KnicksFix]

The Warriors gave them trouble and their bigs are non existent.

The warriors gave them trouble?
Tf? They won the series in 5 and Julius bodied Draymond or whoever guarded him. Stop it.

The Timberwolves were flat out unimpressive. Golden State was controlling that series until Steph got hurt. And they were a play in team

They controlled it for a half quarter?
Bro stop lmaooo

[bbms]

From NBA.com:

WELCOME TO THE WEST FINALS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW




The Thunder and Timberwolves now meet in their pursuits of history, riding superstar guards and two of the league’s best defenses all the way to the Western Conference Finals.

The Thunder, led by SGA, Williams and Chet Holmgren, are coming off a historic regular season in which they eclipsed the 1971-72 Lakers (+12.3) for the best point differential of all-time (+12.9) – and they’ve showed no signs of slowing down.

Shai Stays Steady: Gilgeous-Alexander has seven games of 30+ points in the Playoffs, including five in the seven-game triumph over the Nuggets

All Pluses: SGA is leading the Thunder at +115 in the Playoffs, with second-year standout Cason Wallace one point behind at +114, including his poster jam in Game 7

A Defensive Star: Wallace is leading the Playoffs with a 92.1 DefRtg (min.15 mpg), while Caruso, at 96.3, is the only other player under 100




The Wolves, led by superstar Anthony Edwards, have found their stride in the Playoffs, rising from the No. 6 seed to a second straight West Finals.

On The Prowl: The Wolves compiled the third-best record in the West since March 1 at 17-4 – the Thunder were best at 20-3

Finding A Way: They’re averaging more points in the clutch than any team remaining, led by Edwards (3.8 pts, 50.0% from 3)

Strength vs. Strength: Ant faced Lu Dort more than any other defender this season, scoring 19 points on 37.5% FG over 29:32 minutes. He’ll have to get past the tireless Thunder wing this series

Always A Presence: Jaden McDaniels is leading the Wolves at +84 during the Playoffs, averaging 15.4 ppg on 55.4% shooting

Edwards is 9-7 versus SGA in his career, with Shai averaging 29.8 ppg to Edwards’ 20.9 ppg – including a 2-2 mark this season, as their teams split the season series.

“He’s the MVP,” Ant said of SGA earlier this season. But which superstar will advance to their first NBA Finals?

didn't realize ant was struggling this much against this defense

[AbeVigodaLive]

When do playoff seeds become irrelevant?

For example, MN was #6 with 49 wins and GSW was #7 with 48 wins... but the #3 - #5 seeds only had 50 wins. Heck, the #2 seed only had 52 wins.

That being said... OKC having 19 more regular seasons wins than its WCF opponent is pretty remarkable.

[syrus3]

Lu Dort is another Draymond Green. A dirty player who the refs never hold accountable for their street tactics. Sounds awfully familiar with alot of these “defenders” in the NBA.

[Ethomasp31]

All this talk about Minny being physical and OKC being soft. Just remember that when the OKC guards are swarming and folks start to whine.

We have beaten Denver 6 straight games. If we lose I won't have any excuses....

Wolves are 26-4 since Randle came back from his injury (beginning of March). We had Randle, Rudy and DDV miss most of February (Rudy missed part of March also and DDV missed games in January.

[life_saver]

The Warriors gave them trouble and their bigs are non existent.

The warriors gave them trouble?
Tf? They won the series in 5 and Julius bodied Draymond or whoever guarded him. Stop it.

The Timberwolves were flat out unimpressive. Golden State was controlling that series until Steph got hurt. And they were a play in team

Steph got hurt after playing 10 mins...that's barely any sample size. Wolves shot like crap in G1, struggled with some of the defensive coverages of Warriors but rebounded pretty well after that game offensively. If you wanna overreact based on sample size of opposition missing their best offensive player, then we can also say how Thunder struggled in G3, G4 vs a Grizz team missing Ja and multiple key rotation players.

[Woodsanity]

Rooting for the Wolves but realistically probably OKC in 6.

[syrus3]

The Thunder fans are already carrying on like the Celtic fans last year. But, as we see, it doesn’t take long to get humbled in the NBA. Enjoy it while it lasts.

[Domejandro]

This series will be decided on whether or not Minnesota can take care of the basketball and if Minnesota’s bench stop building brick houses.

I’m not optimistic about the first one, but we will see!