Thunder 111, Timberwolves 123: The Day After Report
Nuggets & Notes
- Isaiah Hartenstein came back, but the sky continued to fall.
- Anthony Edwards (26 points, 4-10 from three) opened the game with two bombs to put the Wolves up 6-0 and ignite a raucous Minnesota crowd.
- Minnesota stayed in control for the first quarter, then blew it open before the first half was even over. Overall, they shot 22-47 from three-point line and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.
- Shai was mostly great (30 points on 12-18 shooting), but he did have five turnovers, contributing to the possession deficit that has been killing Oklahoma City of late.
- Hartenstein didn’t start, playing 18 minutes in his return from a 16-game absence.
- Cason Wallace returned from injury and came off the bench as well.
- Hartenstein looked himself and played with fire; it just didn’t ignite the Thunder. He got to the line six times and, down 17 in a game that was slipping away, ripped a rare extra-effort offensive rebound away from Bones Hyland.
- Hyland really tried to put the wind back in OKC’s sails with some comically bad defense. He was the Thunder’s only hope, which wasn't enough to spark a run to make the game competitive.
- Isaiah Joe had one of the purest swishes you’ll see when he left Bones in the dust for an obscenely open three.
- Minnesota just grabbed another rebound. More on that below.
- Both Anthony Edwards and Mark Daigneault got really angry about the same call. Ant was mad the whistle was blown when he shivered Lu Dort in frustration. Daigneault was mad because it wasn’t called a flagrant. Edwards delayed the game without penalty, then earned a tech from the replay review—and kept incessantly complaining afterward.
- Edwards being totally bewildered about the call is either elite commitment to the bit, or Ubuntu-like commitment to Chris Finch’s vision of winning through whining.
- Later in the third, Hartenstein trucked Edwards with a screen in the backcourt. Ant dramatically laid on the floor before going to the locker room, only to immediately return and look totally fine.
- To be fair, yours truly would probably have gone to the hospital after banging into that wall.
- For the Wolves fan in your life, here’s an actual example of a jump shooter flopping:
- Don’t you miss playoff basketball? This may feel like a loser take after an embarrassing performance, but the Thunder’s injuries and lopsided schedule have robbed us of very many games where OKC and a quality opponent were both at full strength.
- I’ve always had a soft spot for Julius Randle’s brick-or-switch stroke, but when the bricks are caroming into infinity Wolves offensive rebounds, they lose their charm.
- Minnesota just made another three.
One Key Takeaway
A game after seeing signs of hope for Chet Holmgren on the boards, I'm back to being alarmed over OKC's weakness on the glass. As good as the Thunder are in most phases of the game, they are simply the very worst rebounding team among playoff teams. They give up second chances at a rate that is almost league-worst, and are actually league-worst in getting their own offensive boards.
Some of their rebounding numbers are inflated by their excellent block rate, but it’s also juiced by their three-point defense, which is among the worst in the league in both volume and efficiency.
Watching back all of Minnesota’s offensive boards shows all that can go wrong for OKC on a given miss: poor instincts, terrible hands, and, of course, a lack of size and strength. I had to rewatch this four times to accept how this:
...became a wide-open putback for the shooter (Jaylen Clark). There were four Thunder players against two Wolves in the paint when the ball bounced off the rim.
Hopefully the Thunder can rebound against the Nuggets on Sunday, in every sense of the word.
