{"id":42169,"date":"2025-05-19T01:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T01:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/42169\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T01:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T01:39:11","slug":"thunder-vs-timberwolves-shai-gilgeous-alexander-and-anthony-edwards-this-series-is-irresistible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/42169\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder vs. Timberwolves: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards? This series is irresistible"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder didn\u2019t need 48 minutes to show how worthy they are of making the Western Conference finals for the first time in nearly a decade. It took maybe 18 minutes of game time to show the difference between themselves and a very hobbled, limited Denver Nuggets team, resulting in the lopsided 125-93 Game 7 final<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But to be honest, even if Aaron Gordon had two good hamstrings instead of one<\/a>, and even if Michael Porter Jr.\u2019s left shoulder wasn\u2019t made of papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9, you feel like this would still be the result headed into the conference finals.<\/p>\n

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Oklahoma City and Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Or in NBA terms, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards.<\/p>\n

Slow Penny vs. Young Mike.<\/p>\n

The presumptive Most Valuable Player against the most charismatic personality in the NBA.<\/p>\n

\"Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Want star power? The West finals will feature two of the game’s brightest stars: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards. (AP Photo\/Abbie Parr)<\/p>\n

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)<\/p>\n

New York is the glamour market, but this is the irresistible series \u2014 the second straight year the West has young stars vying for the crown as the NBA\u2019s flirtation with parity becomes a full-blown relationship.<\/p>\n

The Thunder probably feel they\u2019re still a year ahead of schedule, even though they\u2019ve been one of the top teams in the conference the last two years. Their three best players are 26, 23 and 22 years of age, with Gilgeous-Alexander being the eldest and the one stepping into full stardom, just like the 23-year-old Edwards.<\/p>\n

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Gilgeous-Alexander played some of his most efficient basketball the last few games, a mark that shows how ready he is for the moment<\/a>. Averaging over 32 points and shooting in the 60% range the last three games can quiet the talk of him being a foul merchant and the like, just a bit. The doubts most observers had about the Thunder revolve around not just their youth, but their ability to play and win close games, considering they played the fewest clutch games of any team this season.<\/p>\n

Dropping Game 1 in dramatic fashion and losing Game 3 in an overtime slugfest validated those thoughts, but winning Game 7 so decisively, blanketing the game\u2019s best player in a sea of long arms and tireless feet, illustrates those 68 wins were no fluke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought our pressure was the difference-maker \u2026 we didn\u2019t even play a perfect game on offense,\u201d Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. \u201cThe guys did a great job of sifting through the noise of a Game 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Forcing 22 turnovers and rendering Nikola Joki\u0107 into an indecisive man capable of being guarded by someone several inches shorter are more than just remarkable sights; it doesn\u2019t even seem real.<\/p>\n

Now that defense will be unleashed on the Timberwolves, who dispatched the Stephen Curry-less Warriors in five games. Edwards had trouble with turnovers in that series, most notably in the Game 5 finale (seven), so that will be top of mind for Oklahoma City\u2019s hellacious defense as the series begins Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Edwards is so many things Gilgeous-Alexander isn\u2019t, but that\u2019s not a knock on either. What they both have in common is an uncommon ability and desire to lift teammates around them, putting them in prominent positions usually reserved for lead singers.<\/p>\n

Edwards is always pumping up Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle \u2014 just as he did with Randle\u2019s predecessor, Karl-Anthony Towns. Gilgeous-Alexander always includes his teammates with him during postgame television interviews on the floor \u2014 which can be a bit cheesy and distracting, but the intention of having a team-first focus is admirable.<\/p>\n

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Edwards\u2019 authenticity makes the Timberwolves must-see television, and we\u2019re all wondering if this is the year they break through. Last year\u2019s journey to the conference finals was exhilarating, but the five-game loss to Dallas was underwhelming, showing how much room they had to grow.<\/p>\n

Even the bionic Edwards was fatigued while chasing around Kyrie Irving and also carrying the offensive load, and now that same task will be assigned to him guarding Gilgeous-Alexander for large stretches.<\/p>\n

It would be almost old school if these two headliners guarded each other the whole way, something we don\u2019t often see in today\u2019s switch-heavy NBA. The theater of the moment is often replaced by an anticlimactic strategy of keeping stars out of foul trouble, rather than them showing the world who\u2019s superior.<\/p>\n

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It was done in stretches through the regular season, but there’s not much to take from those matchups, it seems. Randle played in only one of the four matchups, and the two teams haven\u2019t seen each other since late February. The season series was tied at two wins each.<\/p>\n

Randle has been a different player the last several weeks. Ever since he found a way to fit into Minnesota\u2019s scheme, the Timberwolves have gone 17-4 in the regular season and 8-2 in the playoffs, knocking off the graybeards in Los Angeles and Golden State.<\/p>\n

Even an ardent Randle doubter can\u2019t deny the efficiency. The power forward is averaging 24 points on 51% shooting, grabbing six rebounds and adding six assists in the postseason. And now he\u2019ll meet those same pesky defenders that choked off Denver\u2019s offense, starting with Chet Holmgren.<\/p>\n

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What was clear in both West semifinals was that depth and health won out. Seemingly neither Minnesota nor Oklahoma City ran out of good players, while their opponents were forced to play inexperienced types or hobbled supporting cast members \u2014 and the results were predictable.<\/p>\n

Assuming health, and you can\u2019t do that here, not in these playoffs, both seem evenly matched, which puts a lot of focus on the superstars.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s an invisible mantle, it\u2019s up for grabs somewhere in this universe. Either Edwards or Gilgeous-Alexander will vault himself further into everyday conversation and that ever-elusive \u201cface of the league\u201d discussion that changes every week.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to convey urgency to young teams, but today\u2019s league has shown, sometimes painfully, opportunities are to be maximized and cherished. Assuming you\u2019ll be back is unwise.<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s wise is knowing how entertaining and telling this series could be, because even though it\u2019s hard for these matchups to meet the hype, sometimes \u2026 they do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Oklahoma City Thunder didn\u2019t need 48 minutes to show how worthy they are of making the Western…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[877,375,7,366,686,187,623,479,377,376,563,967,251,307,6,253,475,179,209,308,3460],"class_list":{"0":"post-42169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-aaron-gordon","9":"tag-anthony-edwards","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-chet-holmgren","12":"tag-dallas","13":"tag-denver-nuggets","14":"tag-gilgeous-alexander","15":"tag-golden-state","16":"tag-jaden-mcdaniels","17":"tag-julius-randle","18":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","19":"tag-kyrie-irving","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-minnesota","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-nikola-jokic","24":"tag-oklahoma-city","25":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","26":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","27":"tag-timberwolves","28":"tag-western-conference-finals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114531949908231145","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42169","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=42169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}