Story & Photos
By Michael Kinney
Oklahoma City’s first game back since the all-star break started well. The top team in the Western Conference jumped out to a 25-point lead and seemed destined to cruise to a third straight victory over Minnesota Monday night.
However, someone forgot to tell the Timberwolves the game was over and the Thunder seemed to forget it as well. Minnesota stormed back to claim a 131-128 victory in overtime at the Paycom Center.
“The 82-game season is an opportunity to get better,” said Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous Alexander. “Eighty-two times there’s an opportunity to learn. I’d rather go through being up 16 with 3 minutes left and losing in our 82-game season than in the playoffs if that’s what it takes for us to learn.”
With both teams playing shorthanded on the second night of back-to-back games against each other, the Timberwolves used their bench in the second half to get them back in the game. Then it was their star Anthony Edwards who made the biggest play of the night on the defensive end to secure the comeback victory.
Jaden McDaniels paced the T-Wolves with 27 points and Nez Reid added 22 points and 11 boards.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 39 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, but Edwards blocked him at the rim with 13.2 seconds remaining in overtime. The leading MVP contender also missed a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left that could have sent the game into double overtime.
Jalen Williams scored 27 points and Aaron Wiggins added 19 for the Thunder.
Despite the win, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch made sure to let the refs and NBA know he is not happy with the way their games are called when they take on the Thunder.
“It’s so frustrating to play this team because they foul a ton. They foul all the time,” Finch said after the game. “And you can’t really touch Shai.”
Oklahoma City beat Minnesota 130-123 Sunday night in Minnesota. They didn’t arrive back home until close to 4 a.m. before turning around and preparing for Monday night’s encounter.
The Thunder played without Chet Holmgren due to a coach’s decision to rest him. They also played the second half without Isaiah Hartenstein after he left the game in the second quarter with a bloody nose. According to Oklahoma City, he suffered a facial contusion.
However, coach Mark Daigneault didn’t use the missing players or the unique scheduling as an excuse.
“It wasn’t a personnel thing tonight,’ Daigneault said. “I just thought we were capable of playing better and we didn’t.”
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