Saturday\u2019s 143-101 blowout loss to the Timberwolves<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cWe got punched in the mouth today. Next game, we\u2019re either going to get back up or not, and we\u2019ll lose the game. We have a decision to make, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (fourth from L) and the Thunder lost by 42 in Game 3. AP<\/p>\n
What decision the Thunder make will play out Monday night in Game 4, and they will have the next 24-plus hours to rue this embarrassing loss.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander called out the lack of energy and focus displayed in the 42-point setback that has changed the vibes about this series.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City took care of Minnesota comfortably in the first two games at home and seemed like it may be well on its way to the NBA Finals, but the Timberwolves came out swinging Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander scored just 14 points in the blowout loss. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Minnesota led by 20 after the first 12 minutes, by 31 at halftime and by as much as 45 in the second half.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander noted how the Timberwolves won the \u201cenergy\u201d and \u201clittle\u201d plays early, such as turnovers and offensive rebounds, and that set the tone for the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just didn\u2019t bring it from an energy and focus standpoint. We just didn\u2019t have it. They obviously had it with the sense of urgency, knowing if they go down 3-0 it\u2019s going to be pretty tough and we just, what it felt like, eased into the game and they didn\u2019t and they blitzed us pretty early and we were never able to get back because of it,\u201d said Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored just 14 points in 28 minutes. \u201cThey just came out with a sense of urgency and we didn\u2019t, and on top of that, when you play a really good team it looks like that. We gotta start, come out with a sense of urgency and see where the game lays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Thunder coach Mark Daigneault: \u201cThey were definitely throwing the first punch in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves rolled to a blowout Game 3 win. AP<\/p>\n
One other problem Gilgeous-Alexander noted was how the team\u2019s non-existent defense made life harder on the offense.<\/p>\n
After allowing just 88 and 103 points in the first two games, respectively, the Thunder allowed the Timberwolves to shoot 57.3 percent from the field and 50 percent (20-of-40) from deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were taking the ball out of the net for the majority of the game, so they get back and get to set their defense,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t care who you were in the NBA \u2014 against a good defense, it\u2019s hard to score when they\u2019re set. In the past two games, it hasn\u2019t been that. We\u2019ve been able to get stops and run and play. When you take the ball out of the net every time down, it\u2019s tough regardless. I think that was part of the problem, out defense into our offense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Timberwolves threw the first punch, and the Thunder stayed on the mat Saturday night. Now, according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,152,6,11,197,310,475,179,3966,3965,209,66,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-135273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-playoffs","12":"tag-nba-playoffs-2025","13":"tag-oklahoma","14":"tag-oklahoma-city","15":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","16":"tag-oklahomacity","17":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","18":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114769401289662470","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}