Timberwolves-Nuggets: 5 snack bars as Oklahoma City opens the West Finale in a dominant way

Oklahoma City – There were two signs of game 1 that gave the Oklahoma City Thunder good mood over the final of the Western Conference.

One thing: of course you won. And two: You won imperfect.

They stumbled out of the goal and were only four at half -time. Her Kia NBA MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was not his typical efficient self. But at the moment of the truth, when the opening game was ripe, OKC had all the answers and the Minnesota Timberwolves none of the solutions.

The first recording of the series was fired by the upper seed. Oklahoma City was on the good side of a 114-88 number of points, in a game that became a route. The second result in a row for OKC, which achieved the Denver Nuggets from an airy game 7 two days earlier.

Minnesota was the quieter team, but not the best team on Tuesday. If the wolves dissolved, they could not sit down again or adapt.

When the fourth quarter arrived, the wolves were finished, their main players sent to the bench, their heads already turned towards the second game on Thursday (game) (Game 2 (8:30 et, ESPN) and another chance to claim a game in OKC.

Here are five snack stalls from OKC first blood and the early tour in the best-of-Seven series.

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1. Four letters: OKCD

This unit was rated in the league all the season, the opposing teams were closed and their stars were brought up for every shot. The defense of Oklahoma City has so far had in this series in which the wolves showed that they can match this level. Minnesota held the thunder to 44 points in the first half and essentially dropped the glove.

And this challenge was accepted when Minnesota only scored 40 points in the second half.

“The defense gave us life,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.

In this game, OKC's ability was used up to keep Minnesota in chess. In fact, the defense of the thunder held the half -time deficit of greater than four points. As coach Mark Daigneult said: “That was huge. We lost the round, but we were not eliminated.”

As soon as the thunder had fixed its offensive mistakes, the necessary balance was achieved and the wolves were helpless to prevent the inevitable. When the thunder took the lead, the lead was kept.

Jalen Williams was particularly impressive with five steals. The wolves had 19 sales and the opportunistic thunder scored 31 points from them.

Apart from Julius Randle's big first half (20 points), nobody threw in the OKC wolves for a loop. What means…

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2. Ant was tame when wolves need a thrust

Anthony Edwards has not lost this game for the wolves. And he certainly didn't contribute much to win it – and that is the problem. The wolves needed a superstar and Edwards could not deliver.

He had 18 points (zero in the fourth quarter) and it won't be shortened against an OKC team that had to endure a group named Nikola Jokic in the previous round – and still found a way to send it home.

The wolves cannot support Randle alone for the volume evaluation, not against OKC. The thunder finally found Minnesota's game power to the front, whose biggest mistakes dribbled through traffic.

Where was the player who says he was a strong candidate to be the face of the league? Well, maybe Edwards slowed down for a large part of the game, especially according to his standards, to slow down a ankle.

“I think I have to shoot more,” he said. “I only made 13 (expantive) shots.”

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3. Okcs big ones were two a lot

Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren passed their biggest test in the semi -finals when they teamed up to survive Jokic. This time the opposing great man is a far less offensive threat. Rudy Gobert has problems catching the ball, let alone shoot it, so that the challenge kept him away and neutralized his defense.

Once again the battle of the big OKCs went away and emphatically. Hartenstein dropped one floater after the other on Gobert, while Holmgren provided points blank buckets of backdoor cuts and Lobs. Overall, the One-Two Punch for Gobert and Backup Naz Reid was too much. Okcs Tandem combined 27 points and 12 rebounds, while Gobert had two points, three rebounds and was largely not playable in only 21 minutes.

“It is a good weapon for us,” said Daigneult.

At this speed, the wolves must make a decision with OKC, the Gobert fully dives: appreciate his defense and keep it on the

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4. SGA to the line for two

The frustration that Gilgeous-Alexander received the benefit of the whistle in the first quarter; Edwards threw the ball to Shais, while the OKC guard was spread out on the pitch after a bad call at Edwards. Ant also received a technical foul, but he took one for the team.

This is because all wolves were visibly angry that Shai used his forearm to create space and body to get in touch, even the least, and usually get the pipe. Gilgeous-Alexander took 13 of his 14 attempts to freeze in the first half, which saved him during a 2-against-11 half.

But here, too, the free throws and whistles for Minnesota's best on-ball defender Jaden McDaniels, who just pulled his fourth foul four minutes after the third quarter and was sent to the bench. He only played 24 minutes when Shai effectively disappeared his biggest threat.

He also sent the wolves into an angry state of mind.

“We talked about it before the series,” said Finch. “There were many frustrations out there. We have to be able to put the aside and continue with a mentality of the next game.”

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5. Wolves Bank a big Miss

Reid Minnesota gives this crime – it was not available, together with the production of others outside the bank.

Reid, Donte Divincenzo and Niceil Alexander Walker combined 7: 36. They had open appearance and missed most of them. And almost every Miss was a belly punch for a team that was desperate after a run, desperately for bucket and desperately looked for ways not to run the thunder with game 1.

A persistent problem is divincenzo. His deep shootout was only 25%miserable during the off -season. There is Reid because of his success story, which came back from bad shooting games. Not so with Divincenzo. It will be habit.

But when the wolves searched for another option on Tuesday, Alexander Walker followed the example and was also missing incorrectly. In a competition between teams with deep benches, OKC Handy won and received a surprising effort from Kenrich Williams (eight points in 10 minutes), which hardly played in the off -season.

“We didn't have much patience,” said Wolves coach Chris Finch. “Our rushed crime had an impact on our defense. When we achieved good looks, they did not go under. We have to pick up our decision -making and have to clean up things a little.”

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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can send him an email Herefind His archive here And Follow him on X.

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