NBA-Playoffs snack: Thunder terminals on timberwolves to lead the 2-0 series

The Oklahoma City Thunder took over a 2-0 series on Thursday evening in the Western Conference final and defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-103 at home.

Shai Gilgeous-Aalexander scored 36 points, his fifth playoff game scored more than 30 points.

Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 32 points, but it was not sufficient to overcome the high -ranking team of the Western Conference.

The Thunder and Timberwolves will play in Minnesota in the Target Center game 3 on Saturday.

Huge piece by Jalen Williams!

Steal at one end.
Ereb and that and 1 on the other.

MIN-ACC | 4Q | WCF game 2 | ESPN pic.twitter.com/obwodhohbb

– NBA (@nba) May 23, 2025

Shai seems

The efficiency and the general offensive brilliance of Gilgeous-Alexander (with impressive 38 points in 12-to-21 shooting) should be the topic of conversation from game 2-especially in one night in which he was awarded the MVP before the passionate fan base by Oklahoma City in Oklahoma City-but the ball movement of the Thunder remains overwhelming.

Oklahoma City stated the tone in the first half and achieved 15 templates for 22 campaigns made, most of which resulted from secondary and tertiary creation under Minnesota's ball pressure. The Thunder ended the 2 -22 process with 30 templates on 45 field goals. Gilgeous-Alexander should draw most of the creditworthiness and use its downward pressure to create passing lanes to ensure that the crime does not stagnate, but it was the uncertainty of the thunder that she had so far and should continue to carry it in this matchup.

Her ball movement enables Jalen Williams (who ended with 26 points, 11 of which came in fourth place) the aggressive shot manufacturer, which thrives as the second option. It offers Chet Holmgren numerous ways to deliver contributions to the outside and keep the machine as a whole. At the other end, the wolves tried to keep up and relyed far too often on the individual brilliance is isolated against an aggressive thunder defense.

The wolves have comparable advantages in the boards, and their second unit has offensive skills, but as long as the thunder continues to find holes in the zone and is not generated organically to make mischiefs, the NBA final will come closer. Kelly Iko, personnel author

The MVP didn't do it alone

Holmgren with 22 points, three rebounds and two templates in game 2 is still an underestimated inside outer weapon. He is certainly not as physical as Julius Randle or Anthony Edwards, but his half-court IQ, which has improved every year in Mark Daignault's system, is fully exhibited in this series.

The thunder has sufficient flexibility in Holmgrens placement, either in the corner and to a cutter late in the shooting watch or let it float in the holes of Minnesotas zone.

Defensively, Oklahoma City has the ability to trotting upstairs to surround the middle of speed and mobility, and trusts its elite edge protection and its ability to return it. – IKO

Can Minnesota keep the series alive?

For the second game in a row, Okc Minnesota wore the defense with his ball printing and ran away with a simple victory when the Timberwolves let go of the rope in the second half. In game 1, The Thunder sealed the victory by winning the second half with a lead of 30 points. It was not so one -sided on Thursday evening, but Minnesota fell in this series after two two -digit losses still behind 0: 2. From now on, the gap between these two teams seems to be quite considerable. Okc defender Luguentz there, Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso have made a phenomenal mission every time he has the ball to suppress Minnesota star Anthony Edwards, and let him work at every look he gets on the edge. Edwards tried to confuse things in game 2 by spraying a few post-ups and was selfless on his drives to the basket. It is simply very difficult to consistently attack this enthusiastic defense throughout the game.

Edwards finished 32 points in game 2, but after two games in this series he shoots a combined 17 of 39 from the field. Julius Randle, Mike Conley and Donte Divincenzo were 6 out of 25 out of the field in game 2. The other playmakers in this team have to put Edwards under a little pressure. The Timberwolves have no chance in this series if they continue to hope that Edwards can bring them alone through the finish line. Playing in front of the home audience in games 3 and 4 could help increase the trust of these supportive actors. Minnesota will need it to keep this series within reach. – Will Guillory, staff author

A game of adjustments

One of Minnesota's big adjustments in game 2 was to lean more into his zone defense in order to keep Gilgeous-Alexander away from color. After the thunder had seen a lot of zone in the second round against Denver, it looked extremely comfortable to attack the gaps and create simple looks when Minnesota went into this zone look.

Two things that you can keep in mind when Minnesota goes into his zone in this series:

1. Caruso hit a few swimmers on the trail by attacking the middle of the zone. This seemed to be a deliberate adjustment that the thunder had made, knew that the zone would come at some point. Minnesota has to put more pressure on the ball when he is in the middle of the square.
2. The thunder was some success when he was one of the two guards at the top of the zone. It will be very difficult for him to defend one to one in these situations when he is isolated against Gilgeous-Alexander or Jalen Williams. I don't think Finch can play his zone in the same way when Conley is out there. – Guillory

(Photo: Brett Rojo / Imagn Pictures)