The Oklahoma City Thunder will not have much time to celebrate their 123-118 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in tournament.
In less than two days, the Thunder will be back in action. They travel to face the Minnesota Timberwolves for the eighth seed on Friday, April 14.
The Timberwolves will get a second chance to clinch a playoff berth after their loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 7-8 game that determined the seventh seed.
In four regular-season matchups, the Thunder went 1-3 against the Timberwolves. Although — as the Pelicans proved — it’s hard to know how much those four games can be used to project this do-or-die game.
Nonetheless, let’s look back at all four games to see what could be in store between the Thunder and Timberwolves.
Oct. 19, 2022: Timberwolves 115, Thunder 108
This was the first game of the season, so it’s hard to take much away from a game that’s nearly six months old.
This game was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s first since the previous March. He had missed all of the preseason while recovering from an MCL sprain. He finished with 32 points on 12-of-23 shooting.
OKC’s starting lineup included Kenrich Williams and Aleksej Pokusevski; both will be out for the play-in matchup. Meanwhile, Jalen Williams played just six minutes off the bench.
For the Timberwolves, it was an impressive debut for Rudy Gobert, who finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds. He will likely return after serving a one-game suspension for punching teammate Kyle Anderson in the final game of the regular season.
A full recap of the game can be read here.
Oct. 23, 2022: Timberwolves 116, Thunder 106
The Thunder quickly had a chance to redeem their season-opening loss when they hosted the Timberwolves for their home opener.
Just like the first game, not much can be taken away from this six-month-old outing that can be applied to Friday’s matchup.
Gilgeous-Alexander was out, so it was Lu Dort who led the way with 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting. To show how ancient this game is, three of OKC’s starters were Kenrich Williams, Robinson-Earl and Tre Mann. None will likely see time in the play-in game.
Anthony Edwards was awesome this game with 30 points on 13-of-19 shooting. After struggling with nine points on 3-of-17 shooting against the Lakers, look for Edwards to bounce back.
A full recap of this game can be read here.
Dec. 3, 2022: Thunder 135, Timberwolves 128
In their lone win of the season series, the Thunder were led by Gilgeous-Alexander’s 33 points on 10-of-17 shooting. He also went 12-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Josh Giddey also had 21 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in the win. Dort also had 18 points.
This game is still pretty old; Robinson-Earl and Pokusevski were starters and neither will likely see time on the court.
The Timberwolves were also without Karl-Anthony Towns and their leading scorer was D’Angelo Russell, who is no longer with the team.
A full recap of the game can be read here.
Dec. 16, 2022: Timberwolves 112, Thunder 110
The final game of this matchup provided the closest resemblance of what the Thunder will look like on Friday.
By this point, Jalen Williams had established himself as a starter, which means the only oddity of the starting five in this game is Pokusevski.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 35 points on 11-of-23 shooting and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves were without Towns and Gobert. Naz Reid made up for their absence with 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting and nine rebounds.
Alas, Reid will not be available to play as he is dealing with a scaphoid fracture — a tough blow to their odds.
It’s a shame all four games were played before the end of December, which makes it hard to really have huge takeaways that could be applied for their play-in game.
The one constant — both in this season series and season overall — was SGA’s ability to score 30-plus points with ease. That should continue on Friday.
A full recap of this game can be read here.
