2025 WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #6 Minnesota Timberwolves (OKC WINS 4-1)

[bisme37]

Game 5: Wednesday May 26, 8:30pm ET on ESPN

Good luck and enjoy the big game!





Continued from here: https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2460710

[bisme37]

From NBA.com:

THUNDER SWARM: OKC’S BLUEPRINT TO SLOWING DOWN MINNY’S STARS

As Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle go, so go the Wolves.

This season, Minnesota is 30-9 when both stars score 20+ points. In Game 3 of the West Finals, Edwards (30) and Randle (24) did just that, powering a 143-point eruption – the most OKC has allowed all season.

48 hours later, the Thunder’s defense answered.

Lockdown: After combining for 54 points in Game 3, OKC limited Edwards and Randle to 21 in Game 4 – their lowest combined output all season

Winning Formula: It was just the ninth time this season both stars were held under 20 points. In those games the Wolves are 4-5

So how did OKC pull it off? It threw bodies, length and layers of pressure at both stars – starting with Edwards.

OKC Swarm: Six defenders spent 50+ seconds on Ant – Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, SGA, Chet Holmgren & Jalen Williams

Together, they held Edwards to a combined 6-of-13 shooting and forced four turnovers

But it was Dort – OKC’s First-Team All-Defender – who led the way, spending the most time on Edwards while holding him to just two shot attempts


(Dort made Edwards work for everything – even the ball. Here, he denies the handoff, absorbs a screen, then doubles with Isaiah Hartenstein to force it out of Ant’s hands.)


Defending From Deep: After going 5-of-8 from downtown in Game 3, OKC limited Edwards to 1-of-7 from 3 in Game 4 thanks to heavy perimeter pressure.


(Wallace fights over a Gobert screen to prevent the 3. Edwards still finds space, but Hartenstein helps over to contest.)


With limited airspace, Ant attacked, recording 18 drives – nearly six more than his series average. Only four ended in buckets, as OKC’s help collapsed from the corners to clog the lane.


(After a seamless switch with Caruso, Dort funnels Edwards toward the corner help where Williams pokes it free. Caruso, still hovering, cleans up the rest.)

...

The same swarm hit Randle.

Four defenders spent 45+ seconds on the power forward, led by Williams, along with Caruso, Holmgren and Wallace. Together, they held him to a combined 0-of-5 shooting and forced four turnovers.

Their Plan? Wall off the interior. A bruising scorer, Randle averaged 9.3 drives for 6.3 ppg in Games 1-3. In Game 4, OKC limited him to two drives for zero points.


(With Williams on his hip, Randle drives into a wall off help, meeting both Dort and Holmgren. The pressure forces an errant pass, and another OKC steal.)


Containing the Wolves’ star duo let OKC return to its roots. After just five steals in Game 3, five different Thunder recorded multiple steals in Game 4, resulting in 23 forced turnovers. That led to 22 points the other way – and a 3-1 series lead.

[ReggiesKnicks]

From NBA.com:

Spoiler:

THUNDER SWARM: OKC’S BLUEPRINT TO SLOWING DOWN MINNY’S STARS

As Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle go, so go the Wolves.

This season, Minnesota is 30-9 when both stars score 20+ points. In Game 3 of the West Finals, Edwards (30) and Randle (24) did just that, powering a 143-point eruption – the most OKC has allowed all season.

48 hours later, the Thunder’s defense answered.

Lockdown: After combining for 54 points in Game 3, OKC limited Edwards and Randle to 21 in Game 4 – their lowest combined output all season

Winning Formula: It was just the ninth time this season both stars were held under 20 points. In those games the Wolves are 4-5

So how did OKC pull it off? It threw bodies, length and layers of pressure at both stars – starting with Edwards.

OKC Swarm: Six defenders spent 50+ seconds on Ant – Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, SGA, Chet Holmgren & Jalen Williams

Together, they held Edwards to a combined 6-of-13 shooting and forced four turnovers

But it was Dort – OKC’s First-Team All-Defender – who led the way, spending the most time on Edwards while holding him to just two shot attempts


(Dort made Edwards work for everything – even the ball. Here, he denies the handoff, absorbs a screen, then doubles with Isaiah Hartenstein to force it out of Ant’s hands.)


Defending From Deep: After going 5-of-8 from downtown in Game 3, OKC limited Edwards to 1-of-7 from 3 in Game 4 thanks to heavy perimeter pressure.


(Wallace fights over a Gobert screen to prevent the 3. Edwards still finds space, but Hartenstein helps over to contest.)


With limited airspace, Ant attacked, recording 18 drives – nearly six more than his series average. Only four ended in buckets, as OKC’s help collapsed from the corners to clog the lane.


(After a seamless switch with Caruso, Dort funnels Edwards toward the corner help where Williams pokes it free. Caruso, still hovering, cleans up the rest.)

...

The same swarm hit Randle.

Four defenders spent 45+ seconds on the power forward, led by Williams, along with Caruso, Holmgren and Wallace. Together, they held him to a combined 0-of-5 shooting and forced four turnovers.

Their Plan? Wall off the interior. A bruising scorer, Randle averaged 9.3 drives for 6.3 ppg in Games 1-3. In Game 4, OKC limited him to two drives for zero points.


(With Williams on his hip, Randle drives into a wall off help, meeting both Dort and Holmgren. The pressure forces an errant pass, and another OKC steal.)


Containing the Wolves’ star duo let OKC return to its roots. After just five steals in Game 3, five different Thunder recorded multiple steals in Game 4, resulting in 23 forced turnovers. That led to 22 points the other way – and a 3-1 series lead.

Imagine if McDaniels/ANT/DDV had their hands on SGA like Dort does on ANT. 20 Free Throws? 25 Free Throws?

[UcanUwill]

Hoping OKC finishes the job.

Had bets on Celtics making finals, OKC making finals, and OKC winning finals. Now I am OKC fan haha. Sorry Bisme, but I will say, despite being disappointed for losing money on Celtics bet, I am a bit glad hearing some entitled Celtics fans getting some humble pie, like Bill Simmons dad, who already had all May planned out with his team in the finals haha. If OKC wins finals, I recoup all loses and then some, maybe it is even better that Celtics are out, since I believe they could have been the only team able to beat OKC. I do not see OKC losing this, but we will see.

Cool story bro moment, but I have no one to share my random garbage, but I still play NBA 2k24 single player my league, terrible terrible game but I have a problem. But now I antered March 2029, and Dallas Maverics in my current game are 5-52 and are on 39 game losing streak...

[durden_tyler]

Tempted to get that OKC -13.5 for better payout— the Wolves’ mental toughness confuses me though, sometimes they have it sometimes they don’t and being on the road maybe they cover the spread…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dadouv47]

I'm a bit too confident about tonight's game but then I remember about game 6 of 2016 and I feel sick to my stomach

[bbms]

From NBA.com:

Spoiler:

THUNDER SWARM: OKC’S BLUEPRINT TO SLOWING DOWN MINNY’S STARS

As Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle go, so go the Wolves.

This season, Minnesota is 30-9 when both stars score 20+ points. In Game 3 of the West Finals, Edwards (30) and Randle (24) did just that, powering a 143-point eruption – the most OKC has allowed all season.

48 hours later, the Thunder’s defense answered.

Lockdown: After combining for 54 points in Game 3, OKC limited Edwards and Randle to 21 in Game 4 – their lowest combined output all season

Winning Formula: It was just the ninth time this season both stars were held under 20 points. In those games the Wolves are 4-5

So how did OKC pull it off? It threw bodies, length and layers of pressure at both stars – starting with Edwards.

OKC Swarm: Six defenders spent 50+ seconds on Ant – Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, SGA, Chet Holmgren & Jalen Williams

Together, they held Edwards to a combined 6-of-13 shooting and forced four turnovers

But it was Dort – OKC’s First-Team All-Defender – who led the way, spending the most time on Edwards while holding him to just two shot attempts


(Dort made Edwards work for everything – even the ball. Here, he denies the handoff, absorbs a screen, then doubles with Isaiah Hartenstein to force it out of Ant’s hands.)


Defending From Deep: After going 5-of-8 from downtown in Game 3, OKC limited Edwards to 1-of-7 from 3 in Game 4 thanks to heavy perimeter pressure.


(Wallace fights over a Gobert screen to prevent the 3. Edwards still finds space, but Hartenstein helps over to contest.)


With limited airspace, Ant attacked, recording 18 drives – nearly six more than his series average. Only four ended in buckets, as OKC’s help collapsed from the corners to clog the lane.


(After a seamless switch with Caruso, Dort funnels Edwards toward the corner help where Williams pokes it free. Caruso, still hovering, cleans up the rest.)

...

The same swarm hit Randle.

Four defenders spent 45+ seconds on the power forward, led by Williams, along with Caruso, Holmgren and Wallace. Together, they held him to a combined 0-of-5 shooting and forced four turnovers.

Their Plan? Wall off the interior. A bruising scorer, Randle averaged 9.3 drives for 6.3 ppg in Games 1-3. In Game 4, OKC limited him to two drives for zero points.


(With Williams on his hip, Randle drives into a wall off help, meeting both Dort and Holmgren. The pressure forces an errant pass, and another OKC steal.)


Containing the Wolves’ star duo let OKC return to its roots. After just five steals in Game 3, five different Thunder recorded multiple steals in Game 4, resulting in 23 forced turnovers. That led to 22 points the other way – and a 3-1 series lead.

Imagine if McDaniels/ANT/DDV had their hands on SGA like Dort does on ANT. 20 Free Throws? 25 Free Throws?

maybe they should try it.

too bad they just use their hands after they're beaten off bounce (illegal contact), instead of using hands aggressively in legal game situations.

[WestbrookGOATed]

I'm a bit too confident about tonight's game but then I remember about game 6 of 2016 and I feel sick to my stomach

You know we don't speak of that game

[Castle Black]

T-Wolves ain't built for this. Blowout victory incoming for OKC.

[Doranku]

OKC by 35.

[My Main Man]

I think we’ll be able to tell the winner within the first 6-7 minutes. If the Wolves come to play, they’ll be in killer mode similar to game 3 and they’ll take this one. If it’s close midway through the first quarter, I think the Thunder close it out.

[Dadouv47]

I think we’ll be able to tell the winner within the first 6-7 minutes. If the Wolves come to play, they’ll be in killer mode similar to game 3 and they’ll take this one. If it’s close midway through the first quarter, I think the Thunder close it out.

I would say first half but overall I agree. OKC usually takes some minutes before playing well (when they do) so I think gonna need to wait end of first half to see if the Wolves kind of gave up or if it's gonna be a long fight.

[Klomp]

Optimist Klomp has returned!

It might be too little too late for Minnesota in the series. However.....

Ant now has his role players all finding their grooves. If Ant and Julius play aggressively selfless, I think this is actually when this team plays at its best. Last game, it came down to getting one more stop and grabbing one more rebound against a great OKC squad that was playing excellent ball. This is not a team that is way out of it or playing poorly. We were just one step behind. It's like finishing a race a half-step behind Usain Bolt. Yeah you didn't win. But I hope they don't try to overhaul what they're doing, because I think they were playing well.

[phanman]

We've had: Good Randle, Bad Randle, Good Randle, Bad Randle... so clearly Julius is gonna go hard tonight

Also, Ant's gotta have a big game after those post game comments right?

[knicksfan974]

I won"t write off either the Wolves or the Knicks just yet.

SGA will get his obviously, but the key for the Wolves is to limit others, Jalen Williams and Holmgren. Cannot let them have big games.

[Dadouv47]

There's no way Ant is going home without fighting. Dunno if it's gonna be a good thing for the Wolves but he's gonna attack a lot more tonight.

[JustBuzzin]

Shai butter?

That's his nickname lol

[durden_tyler]

I won"t write off either the Wolves or the Knicks just yet.

SGA will get his obviously, but the key for the Wolves is to limit others, Jalen Williams and Holmgren. Cannot let them have big games.

Not looking good for the Wolves, had them as my series bet but obviously that Game 4 loss was simply the key one if they wanted a shot at winning this series.

To do it on the road as 8.5 point underdogs? A win would be impressive, but improbable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TimberKat]

I'm a bit too confident about tonight's game but then I remember about game 6 of 2016 and I feel sick to my stomach

That is my inspiration: 2016 playoff - Cleveland came back from 1-3 to beat the 73 win GSW to win the championship. In that same year, GSW came back from 1-3 to beat OKC in the playoffs. So, Twolves are in a good spot for an upset

[HMFFL]

T Wolves need to work the paint, transition basketball, and make their 3-pointers.