The Thunder suffer their third loss in the thriller against the T-Wolves and remain on pace for 73 wins
The Oklahoma City Thunder won 24 of their first 25 games of the season. They have now lost two of their last three.
The NBA’s best team suffered its third loss of the season in a thriller against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, losing 112-107. Their record is 25-3, which still puts them on pace for an NBA record 73 wins, but there’s still a lot of season to go.
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Anthony Edwards was the one who put the ball away for the Timberwolves, getting the go-ahead 3-pointer with 39 seconds left, then recording a block and steal on reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the next two possessions.
“I get a lot of criticism because I never look for the equalizer,” Edwards said after the match. “I go to play, every time.”
Edwards finished with 26 points on 9-of-20 shooting, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
OKC built a 12-point lead in the first and second quarters, but Minnesota stayed within striking distance, then pounced after halftime. The Timberwolves led for much of the second half, although the Thunder came close to stealing the game with a mini-run led by Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 35 points and 7 assists.
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The Timberwolves also played most of the game without their coach, as Chris Finch was ejected five and a half minutes into the first quarter for fouling 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 looked unbeatable with Jalen Williams back healthy, matching the Golden State Warriors’ 73-win season was still a tall order. Reaching even 70 wins in a season means that off nights basically can’t happen with any kind of regularity, and that’s what the Thunder achieved with a 34-of-92 shooting performance (37%) while going 11-of-39 from 3-point range (28.2%).
It was a tough night for the Thunder. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
(David Berding via Getty Images)
Gilgeous-Alexander once again went wide, but Williams shot 6-of-16 from the field for 17 points with four turnovers, and Chet Holmgren was limited to 14 points and 5 rebounds. The Timberwolves are a good team that played on a night’s rest, while OKC was on the return of a back-to-back.
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The Thunder will now have two days off before a more favorable matchup against the 13-14 Memphis Grizzlies at home, then they will have back-to-back games against the San Antonio Spurs.