Trailing by 3 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s deep 3-point attempt clunked off the backboard as the final buzzer sounded.
The Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t create any late-game magic in their 106-103 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The loss drops OKC’s final record of in-season tournament group play to 1-3.
“We could’ve attacked it a little bit better,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said on Minnesota’s zone defense. “We also missed some shots during that stretch. And a combination of those two things made it hard on us… The second-half offense really hurt us tonight.”
After leading 61-53 in the first half, the Thunder’s offense sunk as the Timberwolves limited them to 42 points on 31% shooting the rest of the way.
The second half saw OKC struggle to generate quality looks as the Timberwolves suffocated each drive to the basket. Minnesota chipped away at OKC’s lead and entered the final frame trailing by just two points.
Troy Brown Jr. — who closed this game out in place of Anthony Edwards, who missed most of the second half after a hard landing on his hip — scored five quick points to give Minnesota a five-point lead with 31 seconds left.
A Chet Holmgren 3-pointer helped give OKC some slight hope as it cut its deficit to two points with 27 seconds left. After trying to force a turnover, the Thunder finally decided to foul Karl-Anthony Towns, who swished in both free throws to regain a four-point lead.
A Gilgeous-Alexander dunk cut it to two points once again with five seconds left. Brown Jr. split a pair of free throws and gave OKC a shot to tie it trailing by three points with four seconds left. The final possession resulted in the aforementioned Gilgeous-Alexander 3-point attempt that didn’t go in.
“Trying to get the ball to Shai in some space,” Daigneault said on the final play. “Gobert on the ball I thought was a little disruptive to the entry pass and pushed us a little further out than we would’ve liked to be.
“But at the end of the day, we had a really good player with the ball, down three, and that’s what you can ask for.”
Overall, the Thunder shot 41% from the field. This included an 11-of-30 (36.7%) from 3. Rebounding continues to be an issue for OKC as it was outrebounded, 51-36.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves also struggled on offense as they shot 42% from the field. The difference for them was from outside as a 14-of-33 (42.4%) night from 3 helped keep them in it.
“I thought they were uncomfortable with the way we were guarding them,” Daigneault said on the defense. “I thought there was a little slippage in the third (quarter). After we built a little bit of a lead, we let Edwards get a little loose there.”
Gilgeous-Alexander led OKC in its three-point loss. The 25-year-old scored a game-high 32 points. In his first game at Minnesota, Holmgren had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves survived the absence of Edwards, who scored 21 points and had five rebounds before he exited the game with a hip injury in the third quarter. Brown Jr. stepped up and scored 17 points.
The frontcourt duo of Towns and Rudy Gobert led Minnesota to the win. Towns had 13 points and 10 rebounds while Gobert had 17 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks.
“We have to get better as a team and practice and the film room and continue to get better,” Holmgren said on the loss. “We can’t just brush it off because then we can’t learn lessons from it.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A
Despite playing against the best defensive-rated team in the league, Gilgeous-Alexander scored with ease as he turned in another unceremonious 30-point outing.
In 34 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting, four rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks. He went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
This included a 20-point first half where he helped the Thunder build a double-digit lead that was an eight-point lead following the first two quarters.
As is the case most nights, Gilgeous-Alexander conducted his scoring with a mix of drives, post-moves and midrange jumpers. The Timberwolves had no real answer when it came to limiting the All-NBA player.
“I tried to get a 3 off, kind of rushed it just because I thought they were up 3, that they were gonna try to foul before I got a shot attempt,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on his final shot.” …Obviously, if I could take it back I’d shoot another shot.”
Spin, fade, score pic.twitter.com/7ZJwdsQ30V
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2023
There he goes again @shaiglalex pic.twitter.com/hSNBcJyB05
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2023
Controlled chaos from SGA 🔥#ThunderUp | @okcthunder | 📺: BSOK pic.twitter.com/rWynyYR5NP
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) November 29, 2023
Double the rim protection 💪 pic.twitter.com/ahUNu33d3Y
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2023
Chet Holmgren: B-plus
In his first career game at his home state, Holmgren showed out with 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 34 minutes.
The usually-efficient seven-footer struggled against the Timberwolves as he shot 6-of-20. This included a 3-of-8 night from 3. Inside of the paint, he was limited to 3-of-10 shooting against Gobert.
Holmgren only had five points in the fourth quarter, but he hit a big-time 3 late in the game to revive OKC’s hopes of a win — eerily similar to what he did against the Philadelphia 76ers last game.
The clutch bucket went in vain, but it shouldn’t be forgotten when it comes to evaluating what the 21-year-old did against arguably the best defense in the league.
“Obviously, it’s great having people that support you and have supported you a long time at the game,” Holmgren said on playing in Minnesota. “Watching and getting to see all the faces you haven’t seen in a while.
Chet creatively creating space 🧘♂️ pic.twitter.com/jfBkquN89E
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2023
Putting this entire sequence on repeat 🤯 pic.twitter.com/aGC4b6MRTy
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2023
Throwing it down with authority pic.twitter.com/roxRKH6Yfc
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2023
Drive and kick for 👌 pic.twitter.com/jgTlgCn90Z
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2023
Aaron Wiggins: B
With the Thunder offense stagnating, Aaron Wiggins hit a pair of clutch corner 3-pointers. The back-to-back outside shots helped OKC keep it tied in the fourth quarter.
Those were the highlight plays of Wiggins’ night, who had eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and three rebounds. 12 of his 16 minutes occurred in the fourth quarter as OKC tried to find the right lineup to play in this close contest.
After not being part of OKC’s rotation for the start of the season, Wiggins is slowly returning to it as he’s played 10-plus minutes in the last four games.
“I thought we got a little stagnated,” Wiggins said on the fourth-quarter woes. “They had really good length and stuff. We just kinda sat around the perimeter… We didn’t put pressure on their zone to have to kinda move.”
Finding Wiggins for three x2 🎯 pic.twitter.com/t2rwI3yv38
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2023
Cason Wallace: B
With Josh Giddey and Lu Dort struggling as the duo combined for 13 points, Cason Wallace provided a much-needed scoring punch off the bench.
In 17 minutes, Wallace scored 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting that included going 3-of-3 from 3. The 20-year-old continues to be a solid contributor for OKC regardless of the size of his role.
Beautiful ball movement to end the quarter ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/JaDu5U2svl
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 29, 2023
