The Timberwolves fell short, yet again, and find themselves in an 0-2 hold against the surging Thunder. Let’s break out the grade book and see how the Wolves players stacked up in Minnesota’s disappointing defeat.
Wolves Report Card: Western Conference Finals, Game 2 – The Bad, The Worse, and the Hope for Target Center Salvation
And just like that, we’re down 0-2.
The Minnesota Timberwolves just wrapped up their two-game Oklahoma City business trip—the kind of trip where you show up optimistic, pack for a week, and wind up begging the front desk for an early checkout by the second night. Game 1? We got hit by a foul-call freight train and bricked threes like we were auditioning for a “Worst Of” shooting montage. Game 2? Well… Game 2 felt like someone handed us the aux cord and we played sad Coldplay ballads while the Thunder blasted Kendrick Lamar and dunked on our faces.
Let’s not sugarcoat this: OKC was in control for most of Game 2. The Wolves did that classic Minnesota sports thing where we hang around just long enough to get our hopes up before the third quarter slaps us in the face with a wet sock. Sure, there was a fourth-quarter push, but it was more of a moral victory rally—the kind you get to mention in a press conference while the other team is popping champagne in the tunnel.
Now we go back to the Target Center down 0-2, staring at the abyss and needing two wins just to make this a series. That means no more B- nights. No more “at least he played hard” excuses. No more disappearing acts. You want to climb back into this thing? You better earn it.
Let’s dive into the Game 2 report card.
Anthony Edwards: B+
If you look at the box score, you’d think Ant was the best player on the floor: 32 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and three “wait, did he just do that?” layups. He was way more aggressive than in Game 1. He drove hard, initiated contact, and clearly made the decision that, “If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down swinging.”
So why not an A? Simple. That 1-for-9 from deep. Yikes. Unfortunately, when Edwards’ three isn’t falling, it closes the lane, makes his drives more predictable, and lets OKC collapse in ways that jam up the offense.
Also, let’s be honest: as good as Ant was, SGA was better. He dropped 38 with more trickery than Loki in an Avengers movie. And that’s the battle Ant has to win in Game 3.
Jaden McDaniels: B+
Jaden had the game Wolves fans have been begging for: 22 points, 4-for-8 from three, a few “oh wow” drives, and a highlight-reel block on SGA that may have been the most cathartic moment of the night. He actually stayed on the court this time—only five fouls! Growth!
But it’s hard to give out A’s when your primary defensive assignment goes off for nearly 40. McDaniels worked hard, but SGA is playing chess while everyone else is still trying to unwrap the pieces. Jaden gave everything he had on both ends—but when the other guy’s hitting contested midrange fallaways and living at the line, you shrug and hope Game 3 comes with different energy.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker: B+
N.A.W. looked like the only guy off the bench who didn’t forget what sport he was playing. 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting, 3-for-4 from deep, 4-for-4 from the line. He was decisive, aggressive, and made a case for more minutes in Game 3.
Defensively? Meh. Not great. But compared to the tire fire that was most of the bench unit, Alexander-Walker gets credit for at least showing up.
Mike Conley: C
Weirdest stat of the night? Mike Conley was a +14 in a game the Wolves lost by 15. Read that again. The 36-year-old, undersized, under-the-radar vet was somehow the Wolves’ best lineup glue.
Stat-line wise: 3 points, 3 assists, 1-for-6 shooting. Not great. But the box score tells you the Wolves were functional with him out there. He organized things, kept the pace, and didn’t treat the basketball like a live grenade. Finch might need to steal a page from the old-man LeBron playbook and ride Conley for 35 minutes in Game 3. Screw the rest. We’re in “survive or die” mode now.
Naz Reid: D+
We’ve moved from “bad Naz” to “kinda-better Naz,” which is like upgrading from a Ford Pinto to a used Corolla. He scored 10, grabbed 8 boards, and looked slightly more alive in the fourth quarter during Minnesota’s almost-rally. But 0-for-5 from three again? Come on, Big Jelly.
Naz can be a game-changer. But right now he’s simply not producing like the “sixth man of the year” and is proving to be a liability when he’s on the floor.
Julius Randle: D
I don’t know what was more surprising—Randle playing 32 minutes, or him not touching the court at all in the fourth quarter. His final line: 6 points on 2-of-11 shooting, 0-for-3 from deep, 5 boards, 5 assists, 4 turnovers.
Randle had that “oh crap” look all night. Like a guy who forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer when his mom told him to before work. He was largely ineffective on offense and could never get his patented bully ball going.
The Wolves need Randle to be that second star. After a tremendous first half in Game 1, it’s been six straight quarters of subpar play. That won’t cut it.
Donte DiVincenzo: D-
The guy was supposed to be a spark plug. Instead, he’s looked more like a frayed extension cord. Just 8 points. Two threes. Four turnovers. Minus-27 (team worst). Missed rotations. Empty possessions. And the occasional shot that felt more like a pass to the rim.
Look, I like Donte. He has the swagger. He’s a Villanova guy. He’s the kind of dude you want hitting corner threes in Game 6. But right now, he looks off, and Minnesota is getting torched defensively when he’s on the floor. If the Wolves are going to give him 25+ minutes, we need more than cardio and vibes. We need buckets.
Rudy Gobert: F
I hate doing this. I really do. But Rudy has been a ghost in this series.
5 points. 9 rebounds. Zero intimidation. You would’ve thought the Wolves had Gorgui Dieng in a Rudy mask out there.
Chet Holmgren is a pipe cleaner! And yet Rudy has been outplayed, outworked, and outclassed by a guy who’s giving up 50 pounds to the Frenchman. And if you’re not scoring, and not rebounding at an elite level, and you give up 118 points as the supposed anchor of the defense… what exactly are you bringing?
Game 3 has to be the Rudy Game, or this is going to become a very long summer very quickly.
Final Thoughts: The Wolves Are Down—But Not Buried Yet
Here’s the thing about being down 0-2: It feels like the series is over. It’s not.
We’re headed back to the Target Center, where the Wolves have lost just one game all postseason. Game 3 isn’t just must-win—it’s the make-or-break identity game of this season. Ant needs to go supernova. Randle needs to reappear. Rudy needs to remember he’s 7-foot-1. And the bench needs to be something more than an assortment of mismatched puzzle pieces.
But we’ve seen this movie before. We’ve seen this team take a punch. We’ve seen them respond. Just a year ago, the Wolves seemed teetering on the brink of destruction, down 3-2 against Denver after dropping three straight games. They managed to pull out two great games when they needed it most. That team still exists. They just need to find it.
You want hope? Here it is:
This team hasn’t played its best game yet. Not even close.
So buckle up. Game 3 is going to be a street fight. And if the Wolves bring their full selves to the table—full focus, full effort, full fire—we’ve got a series again by Saturday night.
Time to make the grade. Let’s go.