Timberwolves beat Thunder
Thunder struggles in several areas in 119-117 loss
The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 119-117 in a home game.
Before the game, Billy Donovan seemed confident his Thunder wouldn’t produce another dud like the blowout loss to the woebegone Wizards earlier in the week.
“That’s not really who we have been this season,” Donovan said.
Maybe not. But that’s what the Thunder can become if this keeps up. Another sub-.500 team, another home loss for OKC, this one 119-117 to a Minnesota team playing its first game under a 32-year-old head coach.
Same script as against Washington. The Thunder didn’t produce the goods that have made it a Western Conference contender.
Lack of defensive pressure. Lack of rebounding. Lack of a quality bench.
The Thunder wasted a fine offensive performance.
The Thunder shot 50.6 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range. Russell Westbrook missed two 3-pointers in the final
eight seconds and had a rough first quarter with four turnovers, but otherwise was sensational: 25 points, 16 assists, 11-of-22 shooting.
Steven Adams was strong, too, with 20 points, and Terrance Ferguson was superb, with 14 points and making all four of his 3-point shots.
But this game again proved that this Thunder team can’t win with offense. It must win with defense and rebounding. And a team that thrived all season by getting extra possessions got scarce few Tuesday night.
Minnesota committed just 10 turnovers and the Thunder had just four steals.
Worse yet, the Timberwolves had 22 second-chance points and played with spirit under new coach Ryan Saunders, promoted Sunday night after Tom Thibodeau was fired.
Minnesota had 18 offensive rebounds to OKC’s 12, and three of the Thunder’s came in the final 22 seconds, when it finally played desperate.
The game-turning possession came in the final two minutes, when OKC had scratched back to a lead.
Thunder-killer Andrew Wiggins missed a shot, but Minnesota rebounded. Dario Saric missed a 3-pointer, but Minnesota rebounded. Finally, Wiggins was fouled and made the go-ahead foul shots.
The Thunder couldn’t stand prosperity.
After a rugged first half and a scary injury to Nerlens Noel in which he was carried off on a stretcher, the game finally appeared to be going its way. The Thunder built a six-point lead late third quarter and pesky Dennis Schroder drew goaded Minnesota point guard Jeff Teague into two technical fouls, costing Schroder only one.
Paul George went to the foul line with a chance to put OKC up seven. Instead, George missed, the Timberwolves scored on seven straight possessions and took a 96-91 lead.
The bench didn’t help. The Timberwolves thrived whenever Donovan had multiple reserves on the court. For the second straight game, the Thunder was great with Ferguson on the court and hurting without him. OKC was outscored by 19 points in the 28 minutes that Schroder played. That must change.
One dud is an anomaly. Two duds in a row is a slump, which is no place to be headed to San Antonio to kick off two straight against the hot Spurs.
The Thunder has spent two months residing in the Western Conference’s high-rent district. But the Thunder quickly can call into the West’s deep middle class, where nothing is assured.