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

[Castle Black]

Get ready buddy cause your team's about to get mauled on every possession and SGA is gonna flop/foul-bait his way to 10+ FT's a game and you're gonna like it.

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[durden_tyler]

Wolves in 6

Better coach
More resilient superstar
More physical which bodes better in playoffs
Randle is going to abuse the soft OKC front line

give me the most synergistic big dawg little dawg combo since Shaq and Kobe to be the difference here over the GenZ metrosexuals

OKC just made life hell for one of the greatest post offensive players of all time. Randle and ANT will be in clamps vs this OKC defense to be honest.

To be fair, Randle’s style is very far from that of Jokic. We have not seen Jokic play bullyball at all. While capable, he is just not that kind of player.

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.


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[bovice]

ideally a team picks up their level as the tournament progresses. it's how the tennis greats win grand slams. they'll play a 4-5 setters in the early rounds but their game sharpens up the deeper they go. how twolves did against the warriors doesn't mean much. gsw is a completely different team and ant didn't have to take it up a level against them. let's see if he can this series.

[Mamba Mentality]

I’ve got Thunder in 6 or 7. Don’t really see an angle for the Wolves, they’re going to need Ant to play like a superstar to win this series. Turnovers are also a big problem for the Wolves, unlike the Warriors the Thunder will feast off mistakes.

[ReggiesKnicks]

OKC in 6

[GreenBloodedC]

Would love to be proven wrong, but OKC seems too much for Minny.

[cgf]

Wolves in 6.

[moss_is_1]

OKC in 6.

Minnesota is very good but the depth is suspect. That's a bad problem when facing OKC.

Wolves have one of the best benches in the league. They play 8, but they also have Terrence Shannon Jr(had 17 and 10 vs OKC in a win in the regular season) and Jaylen Clark as 9 and 10 who have had their bright spots as well as Rob Dillingham(had 12 and 5 in that same win vs OKC).

So how is Minnesota going to score enough against this Thunder defense? Did everyone forget about the offensive lulls that happen every game for the Twolves? I think the guard play of Conley, DiVincenso, Alexander-Walker will struggle against the perimeter defense of OKC.

Jalen Williams will matchup with Randle. Dort on Ant. Are Ant and Randle going to drop 25-30 pts?

I think Ant will have to carry the Twolves a lot with his solo act. And I don’t think it will be near enough. I see a couple of 80 pt games for the Twolves where they brick a lot of jumpers and really struggle to score in the half court.

Yes Minnesota’s size and defense will give OKC problems too but the Thunder have a depth of players to plug in to find a solution. Naz Reid is always the X factor for the Twolves so that’s a variable that could work in their favor. But I don’t see the even matchup that others portend. I have OKC in 5.

I think you're underestimating the Wolves offense, which was top 10 for the season but it has been even better since around mid January when Randle and then DDV came back from injury. Wolves are like 30-6 over that span, including the post-season. Jaden McDaniels has been great and he's shown he's capable of a 20 point night, as are NAW, DDV, Naz Reid, even Rudy. Wolves absolutely need to shoot like they showed all season and take care of the ball to win but I expect it to be a 6 or 7 game series. It's going to come down to the role guys. I think both teams have a sort of big 3 allstar level guys. Shai, Chet, Jdub vs Ant, Randle, and Rudy. It's going to come down to those 5 other guys for each team, making shots at a high level, defending, and rebounding.

I haven't seen anyone mention that the Wolves have a massive rest advantage. 6 days off before game 1, could hurt them. We seen them look rusty for game 1 vs GSW, but ultimately it didn't matter. OKC is young so it may not matter as much as it did for GS or even Denver this round. I think it will ultimately play a factor.

[tamaraw08]

I’m saying OKC wins just cause Minnesota couldn’t even blow out a Curryless warriors.

You realize it just took OKC 7 games to beat one of the worst teams to make the playoffs right?

I’m confused. Do people suddenly think Denver is a good team now?

Are you referring to 4th seed Denver as the worst team to make the playoffs?
The team that eliminated the 50 win Clippers team?
The same trash team Twolves swept in 4 games last year, right? oh wait….

[Ugly0598]

OKC in 6.

[metalinguss]

Ant vs Shai. Silver wants to push these two as his next North American face of the league so this will be a ratings test plus a test on who will perform better on the big stage.

[MMyhre]

OKC in 5 or 6. Wolves don't have anyone in the same stratosphere of Jokic's greatness. Their next 2 series won't be nearly as competitive as the Denver series. OKC will win the Finals in 5 games at most. They're going to steamroll their way to an NBA Championship from here.

This. For me this series was what they needed, a big and long fought challenge, game 7, overcoming the stress and pressure and growing from it in the playoffs. I really do not see anyone beating them from this point on. They overcame their demons as a young squad, and now the opponents are also non-championship teams, but with much lower peaks than the Thunder + they got the best player, that is just an unstoppable offensive engine at this point.

[metalinguss]

Ant vs Shai. Silver wants to push these two as his next North American face of the league so this will be a ratings test plus a test on who will perform better on the big stage.

[RB34]

Watching Ant navigate the gauntlet of defenders OKC will throw at him will be very interesting.

Gonna be an exciting series! Best of luck to both teams! Fingers crossed for no injuries.

[MMyhre]

Wolves in 6

Better coach
More resilient superstar
More physical which bodes better in playoffs
Randle is going to abuse the soft OKC front line

give me the most synergistic big dawg little dawg combo since Shaq and Kobe to be the difference here over the GenZ metrosexuals

OKC just made life hell for one of the greatest post offensive players of all time. Randle and ANT will be in clamps vs this OKC defense to be honest.

To be fair, Randle’s style is very far from that of Jokic. We have not seen Jokic play bullyball at all. While capable, he is just not that kind of player.

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.


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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.

[ratul]

Okc looks sooo good

[iggymcfrack]

Thunder seemed a little nervous when it got close against the Nuggets, but overall they’ve played at just as much of an all-time level in the playoffs as they did in the regular season. They gained a lot of confidence during Game 7 and I feel like those nerves are gone.

I voted Thunder in 5 because the Wolves are a really good team and rationally it feels like they should get 1 although deep down I kinda feel like it’s gonna be a sweep. All-time team’s ready to dominate.

[ball_takes23]

Minnesota will struggle to score 100 points in most of the games. OKC in 5.

[lethalizer]

Just a heads up for RealGM users:

Jokic is gone. He's eliminated.

Seems obvious, but you never know, some people may still need to hear this.

Anyway, OKC in 6.

[Mad Guru]

Thunder in 5, I don't think the Wolves will give them too much trouble.