Despite an outstanding performance by Russell Westbrook, the Oklahoma City Thunder (22-20) had to face a clear 88:104 defeat against the Minnesota Timberwolves (27-16).
It didn’t take long before Jimmy Butler’s fingerprint was at stake. During the early start of the Wolves, he was responsible for the 10:2 lead of the Wolves with two steals including the following basket success, as well as with three ball scores. Afterwards the hosts cooled down and Westbrook made the connection with 11 points.
In the second quarter, the game continued to be marked by errors. Minnesota’s bankers threw bricks at Minnesota, while the Thunders did the same with ball losses. Carmelo Anthony turned up at least shortly before the halftime break, otherwise the OKC starters remained inconspicuous. Raymond Felton provided a little bit of support with the only 7 points from the bank.
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After the half-time break, the Wolves were the much more alert team and were able to build up the first big lead of the game with a 17:4 run. Anthony and Paul George discarded ten of their twelve attempts to jump in the third quarter and Oklahoma scored a meager 18 points overall. The wolves were looking for their luck closer to the basket – they were successful and secured a 76:65 lead into the final quarter.
Shortly before the end George woke up and together with Westbrook kept the Thunders in the game – as so often in the previous season, the Crunchtime belonged to Butler. Within the last six minutes, the new member of the Wolves team scored 6 quick points and increased the lead to 13 points, thus ensuring the preliminary decision.
Unlike Westbrook, Butler (26 points, 7/13 FG, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) could also count on the support of his co-stars. Andrew Wiggins scored 19 points (8/15 FG) and Karl-Anthony Towns could look back on a double-double (18 points, 12 rebounds) at the end of the game. In addition, Jeff Teague made his comeback after surviving knee injury and scored 8 points (3/6 FG) with 4 assists and 2 steals.
On the side of the guests, Westbrook stood alone in a wide corridor. 38 points (15/23 FG), 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals disappeared within the desolate performance of his fellow players. Anthony (15 points, 5/19 FG) and George (13 points, 5/14 FG) had a very weak night and even Steven Adams (8 points, 2/5 FG, 8 rebounds) proved to be defensive as well as offensively unfamiliarly absent.
The Wolves secured their second victory in the third duel of the two playoff rivals, who could well meet in the first playoff round.
Every fourth Possession of the Thunde ended in the first half with a turnover – an absolute horror rate. A hefty 12 ball losses prevented a Thunder lead during the break. In the second half they did a better job, but at the end of the day the Thunders looked on desolate 19 ball losses.
Apart from Westbrook, the Thunder starters only hit 29 percent of their throws. 4 hit threes in 18 attempts are also not famous.
Mike D’ Antoni would have a head start, but in fact midrange throws were probably the key to Wolves’ victory. 19 of their 36 attempts from this distance found the target, and they even hit 63 percent of their long middistance throws, which are usually considered to be extremely inefficient shots.
The Minnesota-Bigs did a good job to limit the offensive-rebounding qualities of the Thunder. This duel went even with 11:10 to the Wolves and so they stopped Adams and Co. under her season cut (11.8 offensive rebounds – league top).
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Jimmy Butler (Wolves):”We are developing more and more positive habits on the pitch. We just play hard and when we act like this, we are very hard to beat.
Jimmy Butler stood out in a strong Wolves collective. He was not only the top scorer of his team, but also the leader and thinker of the offensive and he showed a very strong defensive performance with 4 steals, 2 blocks and many other scenes.
George and Anthony were similarly attacking – but due to George’s better defensive performance this title goes to Carmelo Anthony. Apart from a lot of bricks, Melo couldn’t add anything to the statistics sheet besides a single rebound and a pair of ball losses.
For both teams it was a back-to-back game – so both coaches expanded their rotation accordingly. Tom Thibodeau, who is known for filling his players with minutes, trusted a total of ten players in the relevant minutes.