The Oklahoma City Thunder won 24 of their first 25 games of the season. They’ve now lost two of the last three.
The NBA’s top team took its third loss of the season in a thriller against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, taking a 112-107 defeat. Their record is 25-3, which still puts them on pace for an NBA record-tying 73 wins, but there’s still a lot of season to go.
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Anthony Edwards was the one who put it away for the Thunder, hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer with 39 seconds left, then registering a block and a steal on reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the next two possessions.
“I receive a lot of criticism because I never go for the tie,” Edwards said after the game. “I’m going for the game, every time.”
Edwards finished with 26 points on 9-of-20 shooting, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
OKC built up a 12-point lead in the first and second quarters, but Minnesota kept them within striking distance, then pounced after halftime. The Timberwolves led for most of the second half, though the Thunder came close to stealing the game with a mini-run led by Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 35 points and 7 assists.
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The Timberwolves also played most of the game without their head coach, as Chris Finch was ejected five-and-a-half minutes into the first quarter for going ballistic on the officials. They held on through physicality, outrebounding the Thunder 71-60.
Games like this are why, even when the Thunder were winning 16 straight games and seemed unbeatable with Jalen Williams healthy again, matching the Golden State Warriors’ 73-win season was still a tall order. Reaching even 70 wins in a season means off nights basically can’t happen with any sort of regularity, and that’s what the Thunder got with a 34-for-92 shooting performance (37%) and 11-of-39 from 3-point range (28.2%).
It was a rough night for the Thunder. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
(David Berding via Getty Images)
Gilgeous-Alexander once again went off, but Williams shot 6-of-16 from the field for 17 points with four turnovers, while Chet Holmgren was limited to 14 points and 5 rebounds. The Timberwolves are a good team who were playing with a night of rest, while OKC was on the second leg of a back-to-back.
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The Thunder will now get two days off before a more favorable matchup against the 13-14 Memphis Grizzlies at home, then they have two straight games against the San Antonio Spurs.