Jan. 30, 2026, 11:01 a.m. CT
Dribbling the ball up, Donte DiVincenzo caught Shai Gilgeous-Alexander by surprise. The Minnesota role player shoved him out of balance. Fighting over the ball, the reigning MVP committed a rare turnover. A little trivial shove afterward cemented the tone — the home squad upped its physicality.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were straight-up bullied in a 123-111 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. They trailed the entire night and by as many as 22 points.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds. He shot 1-of-2 from 3 and went 5-of-5 on free throws. He also had one steal.
Even with Minnesota going all out to limit Gilgeous-Alexander, he still put up an efficient 30 points. Slicing his way through one of the league’s best defenses, he managed to get to the rim with several circus finishes that showcased why he’s one of the best drivers in league history.
While the Timberwolves tried to rock him off balance with hockey-esque physicality, it didn’t matter. Gilgeous-Alexander got to his spots around the mid-range. No amount of shoves or jersey pulls could stop that. Such is the case in most of OKC’s losses, the reigning MVP did more than enough to come away with the win. His supporting cast, though, not really.
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Gilgeous-Alexander had 15 points in the third quarter. He tried his best to do a one-man carry job. But he barely made a dent in their deficit. You can’t win an NBA game with just one guy who can go get their own bucket. And even when he set up his teammates with good looks, they couldn’t cash in.
The last month’s worth of middling basketball can be summed up there. After the Thunder became a win machine, they’ve nosedived in the advanced metrics. Gilgeous-Alexander has seen his teammates fail to show up too often. The sample size is large enough to at least bank it in the back of your mind in case they fall short in the playoffs.
“They punched first, obviously, tonight. When you give a good team as experienced in their environment the first punch and let them feel comfortable at home, it’s pretty hard to turn it off,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I think that was the case tonight. It felt like they made a lot of shots, but it also felt like they were in rhythm. Getting wherever they wanted to go, getting whatever shots they wanted to shoot.”
Well, let’s see how the next handful of games play out. The schedule doesn’t lighten up for the Thunder until the All-Star break. The next few games are against playoff-quality opponents. They can’t afford to go through the motions or risk dropping even more losses. In a funk, we’re about to learn a lot about this squad.
“That’s not something new for us. We’ve been at the top of the West for the past three years. It’s not like teams are figuring out, ‘Oh, these guys are good. We have to play for real.’ It’s nothing new,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We just can’t get too cozy and comfortable being at the top of the West for that long. Any night, you can get beat by teams in this league because teams and players are so good.”