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

[Ambrose]

I'm really curious what Ant does going forward. This is legitimately one of the best perimeter defenses ever. If he can go off against these guys, it'll be extremely impressive.

[SK21209]

To combat this OKC defense your playmakers need to have size to see over their swarming defenders and create passing lanes. Jokic could do it, the problem was getting him the ball and the lack of spacing around him. Luka had success against them last year and in that late regular season matchup, but the Lakers roster as a whole is nowhere near ready to take on that OKC team.

I don’t think any of the Wolves, Knicks or Pacers have the right formula to beat them. Boston may have if they had been fully healthy, but that was never in the cards for them this year.

[Wingy]

Did you mean Jamal Murray?

As a fellow Bulls fan, I know it still hurts that Jimmy is gone. The scars last forever.

Yes, I did. But I wrote "Jimmy Butler" because like you, Jimmy is still living in my head. The pain of that trade will never leave me.

Yep. If not for massive organizational incompetence, Jimmy and Thibs could’ve kept the team going in a plus direction for years upon years.

[slick_watts]

this is a variance shooting game for minnesota. i wouldn't feel too down if i was them. okc lost a home game to denver and lost one to dallas last year despite having home blowouts against both teams in other games. they should continue the high volume threes imo, and maybe get a little bit more exotic on defense.

[Crunch 99]

With that last 21 million dollar extension for Conley thru the 25-26 season, it looks like the Wolves bet on Conley one too many times. It was hard watching him brick multiple wide open threes last night. He's only averaging 6.8 ppg on 48.9 TS% for the playoffs.

[NiceLikeChrist]

Ant needs to take a page from Shai's book and get to the line more. The best athlete on the floor should be driving to the basket and forcing the refs to make calls.

And if they don’t get the calls? Then what

[thinktank]

Take away all of Shai’s free throws and OKC only wins by 15.

Not in the top 3 reasons Minny lost that game.

Oversimplification.

Finch talked about how early foul trouble forced us to change the way we play D.

McDaniels only played 23 minutes, was benched by the refs for crucial stretches, and only 2 of his 6 fouls were legit.

The BS fouls do change the flow of the game in many ways.

My question for you is this:

If fouls didn’t impact the loss, as you said, then why on earth does SGA get all these BS fouls? You’ve told me it’s not necessary for them to win. So why ref it like that? Does that make for a better product? No. No, it does not.

Put the score aside and speak to the quality of product.

I don’t think anyone can honestly say they enjoy watching SGA be a foul merchant, to quote Doris.

[NiceLikeChrist]

First real playoff test and some Wolve fans are crying ref after a 26 point loss. Wake up to reality.

No crying here. I have been an anti flop guy forever. I don't think unethical basketball is fun to watch. I've said it before, if Ant ever starts flopping like so many NBA stars, it will be a very sad day for me. That is when I will cry.

I agree some of the SGA fouls tonight were soft, and floppish. But I saw a few soft fouls for the Wolves as well, but they weren't concentrated to one player, so it's harder to focus outrage.

My main complaint with the thread I'm seeing is mostly officiating complaints in a 26pt loss when the discussion should be about what can Minnesota do to play better, because they did not get beaten by the zebras.

The thing most people, including you, don’t understand is that a lot of “what can Minnesota do to play better” is reliant on the 3 guys with whistles.

If the game isn’t being officiated evenly they are far more likely to lose. The OKC defense gets away with murder game after game. Pushing, grabbing, wrapping, swiping, body checking, sliding under guys, all of it and it’s rarely called. Meanwhile on the other end the wolves are getting called for all of that at a higher rate. And the phantom fouls on top of that.

If that stops or at least becomes a bit fairer then Minny can play tighter defense, feel more confident driving to the hoop since they won’t just get hacked into a turnover so the talking heads can keep going on about how OKC forces so many turnovers, and overall play much better basketball.

Folks like you look at a box score and say “but look at the FT differential. Look Minny shot more 3’s! Why would they get foul calls?”. Watch the game. It’s clear as day as a neutral. Don’t know what team is your team but it’s clear as day to any non OKC fan.

[Mamba Mentality]

Take away all of Shai’s free throws and OKC only wins by 15.

Not in the top 3 reasons Minny lost that game.

Oversimplification.

Finch talked about how early foul trouble forced us to change the way we play D.

McDaniels only played 23 minutes, was benched by the refs for crucial stretches, and only 2 of his 6 fouls were legit.

The BS fouls do change the flow of the game in many ways.

My question for you is this:

If fouls didn’t impact the loss, as you said, then why on earth does SGA get all these BS fouls? You’ve told me it’s not necessary for them to win. So why ref it like that? Does that make for a better product? No. No, it does not.

Put the score aside and speak to the quality of product.

I don’t think anyone can honestly say they enjoy watching SGA be a foul merchant, to quote Doris.

I mean if we're gonna talk about quality of product I don't enjoy teams spamming 50+ threes and making less than 30% of them in the process.

[sfernald]

It looks like the Wolves players are just as easily rattled as their fans. Doesn’t bode well for them to last long in this series. Okc did not have a particularly good game and the next one will probably be an embarrassing 40 pt+ beating.

It’s kind of sad to think Denver was probably the best challenge they will have in these playoffs. Wolves and their fans already seem defeated at this point.

The more they focus on the calls they are or aren’t getting the more they lose the plot and become bitter losers.

[whatisacenter]

If you’re crying about the officiating then you have already lost.

[cgf]

Man I’m lost , I don’t have favorites in this series and both teams is kind of semi likable

Let’s the best or the healthiest team win

Come on buddy, as a soon-to-be Knicks fan you've gotta support our boys out Minny

If Knicks still have Randle and Divo maybe they could win whole thing , unfortunately they traded them for a peanut

We’ll see in the finals

[iggymcfrack]

People are still underestimating the Thunder because they didn't expect them to be this good and the Nuggets stole some close games, but they're playing at a historical level just like they were in the regular season.

Previous best regular season point differential: +12.3 (71/72 Lakers)
24/25 Thunder regular season point differential: +12.9

Previous best postseason point differential: +13.5 (16/17 Warriors)
24/25 Thunder postseason point differential: +14.0

Honestly, I feel like last series might be the last time anyone wins 3 games in a series against the Thunder for a long time.

[hardenASG13]

I think you can burn the line after release provided you don't chase a miss before the ball hits the rim. Nobody really cares

Can't cross until it hits the rim. I'd think his opponents would care.

Given that the players in rebounding position sometimes stand with their toes in the paint before the free throws are even shot, I think the NBA doesn't care about lane violations unless they're egregious (like...multiple rebounders in paint before shot leaves hand).

For sure, he does get offensive rebounds off short misses sometimes though. His just stands out to me, steps over the line after his release basically everytime.

[Special_Puppy]

People complaining about the refs in a game they lost by *26*

[tamaraw08]

Take away all of Shai’s free throws and OKC only wins by 15.

Not in the top 3 reasons Minny lost that game.

Oversimplification.

Finch talked about how early foul trouble forced us to change the way we play D.

McDaniels only played 23 minutes, was benched by the refs for crucial stretches, and only 2 of his 6 fouls were legit.

The BS fouls do change the flow of the game in many ways.

My question for you is this:

If fouls didn’t impact the loss, as you said, then why on earth does SGA get all these BS fouls? You’ve told me it’s not necessary for them to win. So why ref it like that? Does that make for a better product? No. No, it does not.

Put the score aside and speak to the quality of product.

I don’t think anyone can honestly say they enjoy watching SGA be a foul merchant, to quote Doris.

I expected more from Chris Finch to have back up plans incase his players get into early foul trouble.
Okay, JMD gets into questionable early foul trouble...maybe instead of just crying about it, maybe
a. switch coverages, like NAW and/or DDV guard SGA and let JMD defend Dort or Caruso for even just 5-6 mins.
b. Blitz SGA and force Shai to pass to a bad shooter like Dort.
c. Do some kind of an elaborate Zone like a Triangle-2 or a Box and 1 etc.

[Beethoven]

Hopefully Minn steals one in okc. Bring it back to Minn and then wreck them.

[Special_Puppy]

Thunder only had a 112.9 offensive rating game 1 which is fairly bad. Probably is that the TWolves had a ghastly 94.5 offensive rating

[tamaraw08]

Ant needs to take a page from Shai's book and get to the line more. The best athlete on the floor should be driving to the basket and forcing the refs to make calls.

And if they don’t get the calls? Then what

Well, you will never know until Edwards actually tries it wouldn't we?
ESPN prematurely tried to sell and anoint Ant as the "New Face" right after eliminating the Nuggets last year. Yes he has this Grit and confidence etc, but the kid is still just 23 years old compared to Shai who is 26.
MJ and Lebron didn't win it all until age past 27.
I feel Ant still needs some growing up and maturing, that he needs to learn how to read the defensive formations and react properly.
Adjust according to how the refs are calling fouls,
when to take his defender to his sweet spot for a high % pull up jumper or drive hard. When to set up his best shooter etc.

[Castle Black]

Knicks the only team with the offensive and defensive firepower to beat OKC

They got no chance, Denver was the only team with championship heart to test them. All these other parity teams with no deep playoff experience can't match their talent and have nothing over them to take advantage of the inexperience.

Yup. Exactly why I've been saying since before the Denver series that they were the only team that could even challenge OKC because of Jokic's greatness (I picked OKC in 6 that series) but none of these remaining teams have anyone even in the same stratosphere as Jokic .

I said right after Game 7 that I think people will look at Jokic and Denver differently after OKC steamrolls their way an NBA Championship. Neither Minnesota nor NY/Indiana will offer any kind of resistance imo. Those teams aren't nearly good enough and all have huge holes in their rosters. OKC won't even be bothered the rest of the way. It'll be a boring, non-competitive NBA Finals unfortunately.