MINNEAPOLIS — The OKC Thunder fell short in a 112-107 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with a game-high 35 points to go along with seven assists and five rebounds in the loss. Jalen Williams added 17 points and seven rebounds.
Minnesota was led by Anthony Edwards, who shined in his first game back from a three-game absence due to a lingering knee injury. He recorded 26 points and 12 rebounds, and no bucket was bigger than his go-ahead 3-pointer with 37.7 seconds remaining.
OKC (25-3) has now lost two of its last three games. Next up is a home game against Memphis at 8:30 p.m. Monday.
“We put ourselves in a nice position late,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “We had a lead going into the closing possessions, and then (Minnesota) just made a couple more plays than we did. It was a close game. It could’ve gone either way. We’ve played a lot of these games this season. We’ve won a lot of them. … I thought they made one more play than we did.”
Here are three takeaways from the loss:
Order new book on Thunder’s run to NBA title
Chris Finch’s frustration boiled over, leading to ejection
OKC has caused headaches for plenty of people around the NBA these past few seasons. That can happen when a team is dominant on both ends of the floor.
But few people around the league seem to get as irritable when facing the Thunder as Chris Finch. The Minnesota head coach voiced his frustrations after a win over OKC in Game 3 of last season’s Western Conference finals.
“It’s so frustrating to play this team because they foul a ton,” Finch said. “They really do. They foul. They foul all the time. And then you can’t really touch Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander). It’s a very frustrating thing, and it takes a lot of mental toughness to play through it.”
Finch wasn’t able to coach through those frustrations on Friday.
A foul wasn’t called on Isaiah Hartenstein, who blocked Julius Randle’s shot with 6:22 left in the first quarter. And a livid Finch received a technical foul before storming the court to confront the officials.
Assistant coach Micah Nori managed to defuse the situation for a moment, convincing Finch to return to the bench. But Finch then exploded onto the court again, and this time it took four members of Minnesota’s staff to hold him back.
Finch received a second technical foul, resulting in his ejection. Nori stepped in during his absence.
“I’m f—ing with that,” Edwards said when asked if Finch’s ejection energized Minnesota’s players. “That’s my dawg. If I would’ve saw him going back at the ref the second time, I probably would’ve pulled him back. But I didn’t see it in time. But yeah, I’m f—ing with that.”
Timberwolves scratched and clawed all night
Bones Hyland is as thin-framed as his nickname suggests, but that didn’t stop him from trying to outmuscle OKC’s bigs.
After missing a free throw late in the third quarter, the 6-foot-2, 169-pound guard battled down low for his own offensive board. And after missing a putback shot, he harassed Hartenstein under the rim in a desperate attempt to get the ball back.
That pestering proved to be effective, as Hartenstein tried to throw the ball away but got it stolen by Hyland.
The Timberwolves scratched and clawed all night. They dominated on the glass, recording 18 offensive boards compared to the Thunder’s 13, and they converted those second chances into 29 points. They also recorded eight steals.
OKC matched that intensity down the stretch, recording five of its 13 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. But it wasn’t enough to avoid the narrow loss.
“Giving a team like that extra possessions doesn’t help at all,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We were doing a good job on their first shot offense. Especially when the game is being called (closely), doing a good job the first time is hard to do. You get a stop, you get a rebound and go the other way. But when you don’t, you give a whole new life. … Giving a good team second-chance opportunities makes it very hard.”
OKC will continue to be tested during brutal stretch of back-to-backs
Two of OKC’s three losses this season have come on the second night of a back-to-back, and it’ll have more of those tough stretches in the next few weeks.
OKC will host Memphis on Monday before it faces San Antonio on the road Tuesday. It’ll also have two home games against Philadelphia on Dec. 28 and 29.
OKC will then face Phoenix on the road on Jan. 4 before hosting Charlotte on Jan. 5. That means six of its next 10 games will come in the form of back-to-backs.
Tip-insShai Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 20 points in 99 consecutive games. That ranks second all-time, only trailing Wilt Chamberlain (126 games).OKC was without Aaron Wiggins (right adductor soreness), Jaylin Williams (right heel bursitis), Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgery recovery), Nikola Topić (surgery recovery) and Chris Youngblood (G League two-way).Minneapolis native Chet Holmgren finished with 14 points and five rebounds in 25 minutes.
Justin Martinez covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Justin? He can be reached at jmartinez@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @Justintohoops. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Justin’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
Thunder vs. Grizzlies
TIPOFF: 8:30 p.m. Monday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City (FanDuel Sports Network and Peacock)