The Wolves threw a hell of a Game 4 punch, but didn’t land enough down the stretch for the series to expand to a 3-1 gap.
Are there any themes to carry over from a 40-point win?
We were certainly due to find out on Monday night after Saturday’s blowout in Minneapolis that saw the Minnesota Timberwolves climb their way into their series with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Coming off a franchise playoff-high 143 points, the offense proved not to be the early issue for the Wolves, but it was their previous warts that have been exposing them for the entire postseason.
You guessed it! Rebounding, turnovers, and lazier defense saw the Thunder jump out to a 37-30 first-quarter lead. The Wolves finished the opening frame with seven turnovers (OKC generated six points off of them), conceded five offensive rebounds, and allowed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams to get in a rhythm as they both finished 13 points in the first quarter.
Second chance points continued to be the backbreaker through the beginning of the third quarter.
Rudy Gobert finished the first half with zero defensive rebounds, and an inexcusable number for someone with as distinct of a size advantage as he has on the floor. Granted, the Thunder made a concerted part of their game plan to draw him out with Chet Holmgren and play Isaiah Hartenstein for fewer minutes. It drew Gobert out and allowed SGA to find most of his points in the paint.
Despite mental errors and lax on-ball play, Anthony Edwards ended the half with just four shots, the Wolves still found themselves in just an eight-point hole.
The activity for the Wolves’ best player would pick up slightly in the third quarter. It became simple; if Edwards isn’t using his gravity as a weapon and trying to drive production while not scoring, the Timberwolves were going to head back to Oklahoma City down 3-1.
ANTHONY EDWARDS HANGTIME.
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 27, 2025
So many times in the second half, the Wolves were able to pull the score to a tie game, or within one possession, but it came down to which team’s best players would end up bringing them home.
All fourth quarter, the Thunder would answer the bell with Julius Randle (1-7, 5 points) on the bench.
Whether it was a Chet Holmgren dunk to put the game at nine points, or two daggers from Jalen Williams at the end of the game to keep the lead at the ever-so-stubborn seven points, the story is simple.
The top two players came to play for Oklahoma City, and not for Minnesota.
Key Takeaways
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Defensive rebounding and turnovers
The two major areas that caused the Wolves to lose this game were obvious for all to see. The Wolves’ inability to grab a rebound on the defensive end, along with their propensity to turn the ball over, prevented them from gaining any sort of separation from the Thunder.
The Wolves allowed the Thunder to grab 19 offensive rebounds, which they converted into 24 second chance points. While the Wolves themselves also grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and ended up with six more second chance points, the rebounding battle should have been an area in this game and this series where the Wolves outplayed the Thunder.
The lack of possessions gained from rebounding is especially hurtful when looking at the turnover differential. The Wolves turned it over a whopping 23 times. The Thunder, meanwhile, instead of matching the Wolves’ total, turned it over only 14 times, giving them an extra nine possessions, each one potentially costly for Minnesota in a two-point loss.
Rebounding and turnovers were a common theme during the post-game media availability. It started with Timberwolves coach Chris Finch, who noted how killer each of those areas was for the Wolves against the caliber of opponent of the Thunder.
“You’re not going to beat a team like this if you’re turning it over 20-plus times and letting them have a bunch of second-chance opportunities and we knew that.”
Nickeil Alexander-Walker gave a similar sentiment when speaking about how he processes a game like tonight’s.
“At the present moment, when you look back at the game, it says it all right here. They had 19 offensive rebounds. We knew that’s what they did. We know they wanted to turn us over. And we talked about it. Game 3, we didn’t let them do that and we saw the result. Everything is out there. There are no secrets. They know how to beat us. We know how to beat them. It’s just about going out there and doing it.”
Joining Alexander-Walker on the podium was Donte DiVincenzo after both had phenomenal games. DDV echoed what NAW when talking about why it was so difficult for the Wolves to get over the hump tonight.
“It’s turnovers and rebounds It’s a possession game in the playoffs. I think they dominated us in those categories. You hate to say you only lost by two, but that’s where the hope comes. We’re still together. We know what we’re up against. Uphill battle, but everybody is sticking together, understanding that you try to look at this game and grab any sort of hope. That was it.”
The Thunder won 68 games in the regular season for a reason, and they’ve shown in these playoffs how difficult it is to beat them. The Wolves’ path to winning this series was always slim. They needed to limit the number of turnovers and maximize the areas where they have an advantage, like rebounding. In their three losses in this series, the Wolves have not been able to capitalize in those areas.
The Thunder were the best team in the NBA at forcing turnovers, so having another high turnover night, while scoring 126 points, could have been overcome. Overcoming 19 offensive rebounds given up, though, is another story. Each and every extra possession the Thunder gained felt like a back-breaking mistake as the Wolves tried to climb into the lead.
The blame in this area can be spread around to everyone. Each player on the roster could have done more in this area to help gang rebound and box out the Thunder, but it’s hard not to focus in on Gobert, who finished with only two defensive rebounds the entire game.
In almost every game of this postseason run, aside from the series-clinching Game 5 win against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Wolves have been left wanting more from Gobert. Tonight, that finally caught up to them in a game that may have cost them their season.
Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Top of the roster production
The two top players of the Timberwolves’ offense, Edwards and Randle, finished the game with a combined 21 points, going 6-20 from the field and 1-10 on 3-pointers. The rest of the Timberwolves’ roster scored 105 points, including 64 from the bench. The non-Ant and Randle Wolves shot 37-64 from the field, including 17-31 from beyond the arc.
Edwards was asked in the locker room about his offensive process throughout the game.
“Definitely not the points I wanted to get but they didn’t really let me get too many shots off. They did a good job of that. Every time I had the ball, they showed me a major crowd. So just making the right play and getting off of it. Our guys hit shots tonight, so big shoutout to them.”
Randle also spoke at his locker after the game about his offensive struggles in Game 4.
“I think it’s similar to Game 2. A lot of just sitting around and spectating. I don’t know.”
While the players at the top of the Wolves’ offense did not perform great offensively, the Thunder’s top players were knocking down shots left and right. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams finished with a combined 74 points, taking more than half of the Thunder’s 95 field goal attempts between the two of them.
Mike Conley talked after the game about why the Thunder were seemingly able to get wherever they wanted offensively.
“They’re really patient. I think they took their time in trying to find a matchup or patient as far as finding gaps and when we were too much in the help, they were getting off of it real quick and we were in that situation and then they’d drive and get it back to Shai. Now they’re trying to drive it while it’s 1 on 1. They did a good job of just finding windows and then, on the other side, it was a poor job on our end of doing the little things like keeping guys to their not-so-dominant hand, especially Williams late, getting to his left. Stuff like that was a big emphasis on this game.”
While the stat sheet doesn’t always tell the full tale, and Edwards makes a good point that he often made the right decision with the ball instead of forcing a tough play, it’s impossible not to notice how much better OKC is than Minnesota at finding shots for their best players. While the Thunder defense was able to limit the shots and effectiveness from Edwards and Randle, OKC’s offense was consistently able to find advantageous spots for SGA and Williams.
That is what good teams do: they limit the strengths of their opponent and allow their best players to shine. The Wolves’ bench did their absolute best in this game, but to get this game over the finish line as a win, Minnesota needed just a little bit more from their two superstars, who had been carrying them to this point in the Playoffs.
Up Next
The Wolves are now backed into a corner down 3-1 in the series, needing to win the next three games to advance. If they can do it, it will start Wednesday in Oklahoma City for Game 5. The game begins at 7:30 PM CT on ESPN.