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

[Patches Perry]

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[shrink]

OKC have like 3-4 defenders to throw at ANT. Caruso, Dort, Williams and Wallace can all take turns on ANT.

Minnesota only really has McDaniels to throw at SGA. I suppose they could try Conley, DDV and Walker at times too, but I doubt it'll be effective with SGA's size. Braun did a good job on him at times, but I think Braun moves better laterally than any of those 3 players along with more upper body strength.

I just listened to a famous OKC podcaster that has a different opinion. He says that the Wolves ability to defend SGA is one of his three biggest fears, and goes on to say that the Wolves have four players that will be a tougher match up for Shai than any of the defenders he faced in the first two rounds.

- McDaniels is extremely long, and an All Defense caliber player.
- Ant is a terrific, physical, man-to-man defender, especially when motivated.
- Nickiel Alexander Walker led the NBA in screen navigation the last 2 seasons, and has 20 years experience guarding his cousin
- Jaylen Clark guarded Shai quite successfully during the regular season, holding him to 25% FG in a decent number of possessions.

And I’m not mentioning DiVincenzo, who can be a good defender himself at times

Nobody shuts down SGA completely, but the leap in perimeter defense from MEM and DEN to the Timberwolves is definitely something to watch in this series.

[Andri]

OKC have like 3-4 defenders to throw at ANT. Caruso, Dort, Williams and Wallace can all take turns on ANT.

Minnesota only really has McDaniels to throw at SGA. I suppose they could try Conley, DDV and Walker at times too, but I doubt it'll be effective with SGA's size. Braun did a good job on him at times, but I think Braun moves better laterally than any of those 3 players along with more upper body strength.

I just listened to a famous OKC podcaster that has a different opinion. He says that the Wolves ability to defend SGA is one of his three biggest fears, and goes on to say that the Wolves have four players that will be a tougher match up for Shai than any of the defenders he faced in the first two rounds.

- McDaniels is extremely long, and an All Defense caliber player.
- Ant is a terrific, physical, man-to-man defender, especially when motivated.
- Nickiel Alexander Walker led the NBA in screen navigation the last 2 seasons, and has 20 years experience guarding his cousin
- Jaylen Clark guarded Shai quite successfully during the regular season, holding him to 25% FG in a decent number of possessions.

And I’m not mentioning DiVincenzo, who can be a good defender himself at times

Nobody shuts down SGA completely, but the leap in perimeter defense from MEM and DEN to the Timberwolves is definitely something to watch in this series.

However, IMO, SGA is not a player that is going to win you single handedly the game. He is capable of it, but I don't trust him in the PO's to be that kind of player. He is yet to score 40+ game in a playoff game, what is wild if you think about it for a player that is considered top2 best scorer in the game, while he is not a facilitator at the same level as Luka, Jokic, or in the past, LJ.

To be fair, I think Antman could be able to explode more than SGA, but neither I consider him the key factor for these series.

IMO, these will be a battle of depth and overall contribution, and I expect kind of a chess game through the series. Also, I think OKC has the upper hand. But we will see

[MoneyTalks41890]

I really doubt the Wolves single cover SGA, but they might

[bbms]

OKC have like 3-4 defenders to throw at ANT. Caruso, Dort, Williams and Wallace can all take turns on ANT.

Minnesota only really has McDaniels to throw at SGA. I suppose they could try Conley, DDV and Walker at times too, but I doubt it'll be effective with SGA's size. Braun did a good job on him at times, but I think Braun moves better laterally than any of those 3 players along with more upper body strength.

I just listened to a famous OKC podcaster that has a different opinion. He says that the Wolves ability to defend SGA is one of his three biggest fears, and goes on to say that the Wolves have four players that will be a tougher match up for Shai than any of the defenders he faced in the first two rounds.

- McDaniels is extremely long, and an All Defense caliber player.
- Ant is a terrific, physical, man-to-man defender, especially when motivated.
- Nickiel Alexander Walker led the NBA in screen navigation the last 2 seasons, and has 20 years experience guarding his cousin
- Jaylen Clark guarded Shai quite successfully during the regular season, holding him to 25% FG in a decent number of possessions.

And I’m not mentioning DiVincenzo, who can be a good defender himself at times

Nobody shuts down SGA completely, but the leap in perimeter defense from MEM and DEN to the Timberwolves is definitely something to watch in this series.

However, IMO, SGA is not a player that is going to win you single handedly the game. He is capable of it, but I don't trust him in the PO's to be that kind of player. He is yet to score 40+ game in a playoff game, what is wild if you think about it for a player that is considered top2 best scorer in the game, while he is not a facilitator at the same level as Luka, Jokic, or in the past, LJ.

To be fair, I think Antman could be able to explode more than SGA, but neither I consider him the key factor for these series.

IMO, these will be a battle of depth and overall contribution, and I expect kind of a chess game through the series. Also, I think OKC has the upper hand. But we will see

imo the two worst matchups for the thunder this year were precisely nuggets and timberwolves. they have tons of stuff to throw at sga (whos more or less thunder's half court offense) and their shooting is more reliable

i do think ant is more likely to stink this series than sga. i mean. stink. 22 ppg sub 40 fg% 55- ts% stuff

they had no business shutting jokic down and did it. now that they have everything to shut ant, i expect them to do so and i'll be very disappointed if they don't

[AbeVigodaLive]

I just listened to a famous OKC podcaster that has a different opinion. He says that the Wolves ability to defend SGA is one of his three biggest fears, and goes on to say that the Wolves have four players that will be a tougher match up for Shai than any of the defenders he faced in the first two rounds.

- McDaniels is extremely long, and an All Defense caliber player.
- Ant is a terrific, physical, man-to-man defender, especially when motivated.
- Nickiel Alexander Walker led the NBA in screen navigation the last 2 seasons, and has 20 years experience guarding his cousin
- Jaylen Clark guarded Shai quite successfully during the regular season, holding him to 25% FG in a decent number of possessions.

And I’m not mentioning DiVincenzo, who can be a good defender himself at times

Nobody shuts down SGA completely, but the leap in perimeter defense from MEM and DEN to the Timberwolves is definitely something to watch in this series.

However, IMO, SGA is not a player that is going to win you single handedly the game. He is capable of it, but I don't trust him in the PO's to be that kind of player. He is yet to score 40+ game in a playoff game, what is wild if you think about it for a player that is considered top2 best scorer in the game, while he is not a facilitator at the same level as Luka, Jokic, or in the past, LJ.

To be fair, I think Antman could be able to explode more than SGA, but neither I consider him the key factor for these series.

IMO, these will be a battle of depth and overall contribution, and I expect kind of a chess game through the series. Also, I think OKC has the upper hand. But we will see

imo the two worst matchups for the thunder this year were precisely nuggets and timberwolves. they have tons of stuff to throw at sga (whos more or less thunder's half court offense) and their shooting is more reliable

i do think ant is more likely to stink this series than sga. i mean. stink. 22 ppg sub 40 fg% 55- ts% stuff

they had no business shutting jokic down and did it. now that they have everything to shut ant, i expect them to do so and i'll be very disappointed if they don't

Isn't consistency a big part of what makes SGA so damn good and impactful? I read someone else bemoaning him not going for 40+ points... and I was thinking "so what."

You can almost automatically chalk him up for 24 - 36 with 5+ assists and 5+ rebs. Night after night. He scored fewer than 21 points only 1x in 76 regular season games!

Granted, he's had 18 or less already 2x in 11 playoff games, although he only played 23 mins and his team won by 51 points in one of those games. He's simply a better player than Edwards right now... and almost everyone else in the NBA.

[Crunch 99]

Wolves in six.

[bbms]

Isn't consistency a big part of what makes SGA so damn good and impactful? I read someone else bemoaning him not going for 40+ points... and I was thinking "so what."

You can almost automatically chalk him up for 24 - 36 with 5+ assists and 5+ rebs. Night after night. He scored fewer than 21 points only 1x in 76 regular season games!

Granted, he's had 18 or less already 2x in 11 playoff games, although he only played 23 mins and his team won by 51 points in one of those games. He's simply a better player than Edwards right now... and almost everyone else in the NBA.

i feel the same

[Big nick]

I have okc in 7 but man wolves give okc hell. Wolves guard sga real good and have a better defense than Denver if okc can’t get turn overs and hit there 3s it will be tough. One thing I have noticed, is Rudy doesn’t match up good with Chet, he has to come out of the paint and guard Chet where he doesn’t do a good job. I wished okc had another day to rest.

[levon]

The more I think about it the more I have OKC winning in under 7. Sure Minny can wall off Shai to some degree, but I really think the Thunder have been sharpened on both ends after playing Denver. Gobert is going to be stripped more than an Atlantic City prostitute, and I really think the defense is going to frustrate Randle and Ant and get them off-balance and making poor decisions.

[Loaf_of_bread]

I really doubt the Wolves single cover SGA, but they might

You right, why shouldn't we double, not like anyone is worried much in terms of his passing abilities

[Cubbies2120]

The more I think about it the more I have OKC winning in under 7. Sure Minny can wall off Shai to some degree, but I really think the Thunder have been sharpened on both ends after playing Denver. Gobert is going to be stripped more than an Atlantic City prostitute, and I really think the defense is going to frustrate Randle and Ant and get them off-balance and making poor decisions.

I say OKC in 5 at most.

[bbms]

Can't wait for Caruso to make Ant look like a G leaguer

ant is dort's job. ant won't have jokic screens to make dort look awful at on ball defense like murray did.

You gotta be kidding me... Gobert is one of if not THE best screen-setter in the league. Bad take.

hey brother this video from thinking basketball, at 6:54 shows exactly what i was talking about... jokic's dynamic as screener is a lot different from gobert. since he himself is an offensive threat and a mismatch machine he hunts the switch to bulldoze smaller people. there's no way gobert is this talent to do that and this is what made dort struggle so much this series. cason lived by it with getting skinny (something that dort cant). caruso on jokic counter measured it by switching everything and this is what made him so good game 7.

6:54

Watch on YouTube

[Jimmy Recard]

The matchup to look out for will be Randle vs Chet. Randle had no problem bullying Draymond last series so it could get ugly for Chet.

Either way I’ve got OKC in 5, maybe 6 games.

[NiceLikeChrist]

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good lord even the coach ass kisses the refs to get his guys treated better

[moss_is_1]

I really doubt the Wolves single cover SGA, but they might

I'm sure SGA is going to see a lot of different looks, as will Ant over the series. IIRC SGA had a tougher time in the last meeting or 2 when the Wolves would trap him off pick and rolls, and when the Wolves rolled out more zone looks.

[shrink]

Randle, on the other hand is intentionally a bully against smaller/thinner players, he drives/posts with that purpose and i think we’ll see a lot of that this series. Let’s see how the Thunder defense adjusts.

You just put Hartenstein on him, he is too big for him to move. Chet on Gobert, which just isnt capable of being a reliable 20 + scorer in the postseason.

i think many might think that, but since Randle came back from injury, his first step is too explosive. Defenders need to be big AND fast, and that’s not Hartenstein.

[cgf]

OKC just doesn't have an answer for Playoff Randle. He's too quick, too strong, and too good.

[Mrakar]

OKC just doesn't have an answer for Playoff Randle. He's too quick, too strong, and too good.

Will he be officiated like a big or like a wing? If he is officiated like a big, they will slow him down easilly since they can do whatever they want, grab, push, pull, slap,... and he will not be allowed to be physical himself.
If he is officiated as a wing and is allowed to be physical, that could be an advantage for minnesota. We will see it after game 1.

[durden_tyler]

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good lord even the coach ass kisses the refs to get his guys treated better

It's called working the refs. Different styles to it and sometimes it can work.