Who's Really to Blame for Timberwolves' 4-1 Series Flop vs. Thunder In NBA Playoffs?
The Minnesota Timberwolves deserve some credit for making the NBA Western Conference Finals (the better conference) in back-to-back years, but they were quickly disposed of by the Oklahoma City Thunder this season.
After losing Wednesday's contest, 124-94, the Timberwolves are headed home after a five-game series that ended in blowout fashion.
And as Minnesota enters the 2025 offseason, it's time to slice up the blame pie and figure out how this matchup with OKC went so wrong, so quickly.
5. Julius Randle
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Overall, Julius Randle had a solid postseason. His shooting in the first two rounds was a real weapon. His passing and playmaking brought a new dimension to this team that Karl-Anthony Towns never really did.
But the Thunder were able to stymie his drives throughout the conference finals. Intense ball pressure from the likes of Alex Caruso, Luguentz Dort and other OKC perimeter defenders flummoxed Randle, and he finished the series with more turnovers than assists.
If his loose handle was the only problem, it might've been manageable, but Randle also struggled to make his presence felt (in a good way) as a scorer or defender. In far too many stretches during the series, he was more of a ghost than a wolf.
And against a team as stacked as the Thunder, your second-best player has to have a major impact to have a chance. Minnesota being done in five games is a good indication Randle's was far from that.
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
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At a certain point, when you're facing an MVP who just had one of the greatest regular seasons a guard has ever had, you're forced to tip your hat.
Minnesota's defense wasn't perfect on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Jaden McDaniels is probably a little slow for him. Anthony Edwards needs to spare the energy for the other end. Nickeil Alexander-Walker may be a little small. And just about everyone else doesn't have a chance.
And that's obviously not a Timberwolves-exclusive problem. SGA has been dicing up defenses all season (and postseason), with his shiftiness, ability to change pace on a dime, mid-range jumper and knack for drawing a whistle seemingly every time he needs one.
For the series, he averaged 31.4 points, 8.2 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals.
3. Anthony Edwards
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The "Is Ant the face of the league?" conversations are becoming something of an annual tradition in the NBA. And he keeps creeping up the individual player rankings of fans and analysts all over the world.
Ahead of Wednesday's Game 5 loss, The Ringer's Bill Simmons declared him the fourth best player in the league.
But this series demonstrated that much (if not all) of that talk is probably premature. Ant's feel isn't quite on the same level as that of the game's other one-man offensive engines. In fact, Edwards probably can't even be discussed among that group that includes Nikola Jokić, SGA, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Dončić.
They're simply seeing things, angles and developments that Edwards isn't yet. And they can either manipulate a game or impose their will on it in a way Edwards can't (at least not as consistently as they do).
And if not for the lofty conversations he's often thrown into, that would be fine. Edwards isn't even 24 yet. In time, he's likely to better understand how to wield the defensive attention he commands. His decision-making will improve. His passing should too.
But right now, in this brief moment, he simply wasn't close to his counterpart with the Thunder. And that's among the bigger reasons his team is out.
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2. The Minnesota Vets
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At a certain point, the game just sort of passes players by, even those who were at one point great.
And we may be witnessing that phenomenon with a pair of Timberwolves veterans in real time.
Mike Conley, who turns 38 in October, was simply overwhelmed the length, physicality and athleticism of Minnesota's perimeter defense. For the series, he averaged 4.4 points and 2.4 assists and shot 21.2 percent from the field.
Rudy Gobert, meanwhile, is still valuable in certain matchups, but the speed of OKC, and the ability of its defenders to swarm the paint, completely neutralized him. He put up 5.8 points and 6.6 rebounds.
It's tough to blame someone who's just "physically" outmatched, but there's no doubt that lack of production from two starters influenced the length of this series.
1. Sam Presti
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Ultimately, this team simply had no shot against the juggernaut assembled by Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti. It's starting to feel like that's true of the entire NBA.
His shrewd trade for SGA also landed the Thunder the pick that turned in Jalen Williams. He surrounded those two star wing/guards with a seemingly unlimited supply of defense and outside shooting.
All the while, he kept stockpiling picks at every opportunity. He added a third star to the core when OKC landed the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft and took Chet Holmgren.
And this past summer, he put the finishing touches on an already near-perfect roster by trading Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso and signing Isaiah Hartenstein.
Now, the Thunder can play big (with Holmgren and Hartenstein both on the floor) or small. They can absolutely dominate a game on an off shooting night, thanks to the relentless defense. The Thunder are so deep that this regular season, when SGA was off the floor, they had a point differential around that of a 61-win team.
The Timberwolves are a solid team. Again, they deserve some love for making the conference finals again. But they just ran into one of the greatest single-season teams the NBA has ever seen.
No one deserves more "blame" for the outcome of this series than OKC and the executive that assembled this superteam.
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