Bolts: Waiting for the Finals

ICYMI (lol) the Thunder beat the Wolves and now wait for the Eastern Conference Finals to play out to determine their next opponent.

Thunder advance to Finals with 124-94 drubbing of Wolves

OKC 124 MI 94 Thunder win Western Conference Finals 4-1 The Thunder’s big three–Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (series MVP), Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren–have arrived in the NBA Finals, announcing themselves as the rightful Western Conference champs in a blowout victory over the wilting Wolves. OKC was electric in front

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Extremely convenient reminder: I predicted Thunder in 5 for the series. I missed the final score of Game 4 by one point, and hit on OKC's score exactly on Game 5.

Some of the cool Thunder milestones from Statitudes:

• OKC is the first team in NBA history to win by 30-plus four times in a single postseason.
• Shai is tied with Kevin Durant for most 30-point games in a single postseason (11)
• Shai is the third player in NBA history to turn in 10 different 30-point, 5-assist games in a single postseason. He joins Michael Jordan and LeBron James, who have three such postseasons apiece.
• SGA is the first MVP Award winner whose team made the Finals in the same season since Steph Curry in 2015-16.
• OKC is the second-youngest team to ever reach the Finals.

Chris Hine (Minnesota Star Tribune) gauged the Wolves' disappointment after they lost Game 5 and the conference finals to the Thunder. Anthony Edwards and Chris Finch were relatively chipper, but Mike Conley struck a more ominous tone:

“I don’t think anybody can really feel what I feel,” Conley said. “I can’t ask them to feel that because they haven’t been around as long and seen how few opportunities you get at this chance. “For me it’s going to take a while to kind of dissect what we just did and weren’t able to accomplish. But at the same time, I’m proud of my team, proud of these guys. They really fought, not just for me but just for the whole team.”

Converse trolled Ant on Shai's behalf:

This season's insane Thunder turnover ratio has carried over into the playoffs.

Ricky O'Donnell on the turnover strengths of both OKC and Indiana:

The Pacers’ turnover avoidance mostly comes back to Tyrese Haliburton’s special skill for it. Haliburton was an assist-to-turnover god at Iowa State, and that has carried over into the NBA. Indiana plays at a super fast pace, and finished No. 2 in passes made during the regular season. Somehow, Haliburton is able to avoid turning the ball over despite regularly throwing crosscourt passes that bait the defense into going for the takeaway without ever completing it. The possession battle is the new market inefficiency in the NBA Playoffs. Previously, just attempting more three-pointers was a sound strategy for teams to gain an edge. Now that almost every team shoots a lot of threes, there’s less of an advantage in the volume and diminishing returns in banking on shooting variance for a hot night or two. The turnover margin has become a key battleground, as has rebounding and getting to the foul line.

Skills trainer Drew Hanlen shares with Jared Weiss (The Athletic) how he stokes the competitive fire between his clients: