How can the Wolves overcome the Thunder dominating in third quarters?

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Not basketball-related, but the passing of George Wendt made me extremely nostalgic yesterday. Growing up, “Cheers” was a big part of my television consumption. Norm was a perfect complementary character, and Wendt embodied him in a way nobody else could. I could watch a supercut of his entrances on that show forever.

Thunder Storm

Can Minnesota weather OKC’s storm?

All season long, the third quarter was a torture chamber for the Thunder’s opponents. It’s not like the first half of those games went well. They would usually be up double digits, sending teams into halftime hoping to make adjustments. They probably said things like, “Let’s go win the first four minutes of the third quarter, get back in this game and put the pressure back on them!”

Everybody would rally around that idea and then, the next thing they knew, it was garbage time in the game. The Thunder outscored their opponents by 14.0 points per 100 possessions in third quarters this season, by far the most dominant net rating in the league. Going into the third quarter of Game 1 against the Timberwolves, they weren’t cruising along with a double-digit lead at halftime. They were actually down by four. Minnesota played really good defense for the most part, and it was trying to bombard OKC with 3-pointers.

In last night’s third quarter, the Thunder did what they do. They shut the water off for Minnesota, and they released their own downpour of offense. They outscored the Wolves 32-18 in the quarter and then made it a deluge with a 38-22 fourth quarter to remove any hopes of a comeback by Minnesota. That final deluge happened in the last five minutes of the game because it was a 10-point game with 5:07 left. The Thunder closed the game on a 20-4 run.

When it was all said and done, the Thunder took Game 1 by a score of 114-88 and made the Wolves look like they’ve made everybody look: overwhelmed. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 31 points despite a 10-of-27 shooting night because he got to the free-throw line 14 times. Jalen Williams had 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. And the Thunder had nearly as many assisted field goals (27) as the Wolves had total field goals (29).

So, what can Minnesota change for Game 2 to even up this series? Is there any way to flip this?

1) Make sure Anthony Edwards is OK. He turned his ankle again in the first half and had to go to the locker room to get it worked on. He came back and seemed fine. He had bursts of athleticism in moments here and there, but he didn’t attack consistently like you’d expect. That could’ve been the ankle or the OKC defense or both. Eighteen points on 5-of-13 shooting won’t cut it, though.

2) The turnovers. My god, the turnovers! Minnesota had 19 turnovers that the Thunder turned into 31 points. For comparison, the Wolves actually forced 15 turnovers by the Thunder, which is uncharacteristic for them — but OKC gave up only 10 points off those turnovers. Minnesota committed 11 turnovers (18 points given up off them) in the first half, when they had control of the game. If they’re better with the ball in the first half, they probably take a 15-point lead or more into halftime, instead of four.

3) Knock down the shots. The 3-point strategy wasn’t bad for Minnesota. The Timberwolves generated a lot of good looks in the first three quarters. They simply didn’t make them. But they have to decide if they can get more balance in their offense, which they probably can. They only had 20 points in the paint, and went 15-of-51 (29.4 percent) from deep. They were 5-of-21 on corner 3-pointers.

• Donte DiVincenzo: 3-of-12 from 3
• Nickeil Alexander-Walker: 2-of-9
• Naz Reid: 0-of-7
• Mike Conley: 1-of-5

Those four highly reliable shooters going 6-of-33 from deep isn’t ideal for Minnesota.

These are all correctable things, but all things the Timberwolves desperately need to fix ASAP. Otherwise, the Thunder will do the same thing to them in Game 2.

The Last 24

Your All-Rookie teams were announced!

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First Team: Stephon Castle (Spurs), Zach Edey (Grizzlies), Jaylen Wells (Grizzlies), Alex Sarr (Wizards), Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks).

Second Team: Matas Buzelis (Bulls), Bub Carrington (Wizards), Donovan Clingan (Blazers), Yves Missi (Pelicans), Kel’el Ware (Heat).

 Come on down. A Pacers fan was heckled in New York City after the Knicks won Game 6. Tyrese Haliburton is inviting him to Game 4.

 Made in his image. Fred Katz breaks down how the Knicks created this roster around Jalen Brunson’s identity.

 Who am I? The 2025 draft prospects compare themselves to today’s NBA players – from Kawhi Leonard to James Harden. 

 Time to collect. Here’s your guide to the Kobe Bryant cards you should collect. Some go above $5,000 in value. 

 Tuning in. Today’s “NBA Daily” discusses the foul-drawing controversy around SGA.

The Basketball 100

The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process.

The story of the greatest players in NBA history.

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You Voted!

Western Conference finals predictions are in! Yesterday, we asked you (yes, specifically you ) to vote for and predict the outcome of the Western Conference finals and beyond. You did, so it’s time to go over the results!

Who will win and in how many games?

• Wolves in six – 29.9%
• Thunder in six – 28.7%
• Wolves in seven – 18.3%
• Thunder in seven – 8.6%
• Thunder in five – 7.8%
• Wolves in five – 5.6%

Who will be the West finals MVP?

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – 43.0%
• Anthony Edwards – 33.2%
• Julius Randle – 17.0%

Of course, we had write-in votes, as well. And there were some very interesting choices submitted. We didn’t have a lot of variety for the ECF write-ins, but the WCF write-ins definitely had an array of options. We had a vote for Ryan Arcidiacano, Naz Reid, Clay Bennett, two for Aleksei Pokuševski, one for Nic Batum, one for Kostas Antetokounmpo and two for Thanasis Antetokounmpo. I will find you someday, Thanasis voter(s).

Will the winner of West finals win NBA Finals?

• Wolves to beat Knicks – 33.3%
• Thunder to beat Pacers – 24.4%
• Thunder to beat Knicks – 17.6%
• Wolves to beat Pacers – 15.4%
• Thunder to lose to Knicks – 3.2%
• Wolves to lose to Knicks – 6.2%
• Wolves to lose to Pacers – 2.2%
• Thunder to lose to Pacers – 1.0%

Dueling Narratives

Tom Thibodeau’s way vs. Indiana’s humility

We have two absolutely fantastic articles on The Athletic about the two Eastern Conference finalists. James Edwards III wrote about Tom Thibodeau’s “stubborn ways” finally bearing the fruit outside critics always denied would ever come. For roughly a decade and a half, Thibodeau has been criticized for playing his starters and stars too many minutes. The narrative was thus he wears them down by the time the playoffs get here. The reputation followed him to three different cities, including New York.

This year, the Knicks and their fans are pushing back against the narrative. Why? The Knicks are in the conference finals and have been really good at the end of games. Forever, the criticism has been “process over results” and “results because of process.” Now, the opinion of the process has flipped because of the results. While the minutes haven’t changed, James did a great job of outlining how some of the tactics have adapted for Thibs, despite his presumed inflexibility.

On the other side of the jump ball, we have Zak Keefer’s incredible article about the Indiana Pacers being greedy in their quest for their first NBA championship. The Pacers are fueled by being overlooked and scrappily pieced together.

• They are still holding on to Tyrese Haliburton being voted Most Overrated in our anonymous player poll, even though it’s literally like 13 players.
• We’re reminded they haven’t had a top-five pick since Rik Smits in 1988, which was 37 years ago.
• Four of their starters have been traded – only Myles Turner hasn’t. He’ll mention he’s “been on the trade block for like six years.” Will he remind everybody he once pitched why the Lakers should trade for him on an ESPN podcast?

Maybe my favorite tidbit: the Pacers’ identity of wanting to run you to death. Turner mentioned some stars’ rest schedules happen to coincide with playing Indiana. And they’ll joke they don’t want to run with Indiana tonight.

New York will run with Indiana tonight at 8 p.m. ET on TNT for Game 1

Pre-Draft Combine

Busting out the tape measurer

There’s this funny series of videos that will hit my algorithm on TikTok every once in a while in which a guy will ask strangers how tall they are. They throw out a number, and then, he immediately gets a tape measure out to see if they’re lying. Almost every time, they end up allowing him to verify the height, and the hit rate on these heights is probably less than half. What I love about the NBA Draft Combine is it’s essentially this internet series, but for future professional athletes.

As longtime Bouncers will probably know, I’ve been tracking this Victor Wembanyama height thing for a while. When he was a mythical prospect, we were told he was 7-foot-5. Then, during his rookie season, he was listed at 7-foot-5, even though he looked taller. During this past season, he was listed at 7-foot-3, making us believe he’s actually shrinking. Recently, he stood next to David Robinson and Tim Duncan, and looked like he’s nearly 8 feet tall.

Listed heights matter here at The Bounce. 

In John Hollinger’s dispatch from the combine, I couldn’t get enough of him talking about height without shoes, wingspans and no-step vertical leap measurements. I wanted to keep an eye on the guys who look like they could be the next Wemby. I’m not talking about the type of player he is. I mean the guys who are apparently getting shorter! Could it impact their stock?

Ace Bailey | Rutgers | Projected Top 5 | 6-foot-10  6-foot-7 1/2

He was once regarded as a potential challenge to Cooper Flagg for the top spot. Then, he had a miserably disappointing freshman year at Rutgers. Now, he’s not even listed at 6-foot-8 when we thought he was 6-foot-10. Get him some lifts in his shoes to get that draft stock back on the rise.

Kon Knueppel | Duke | Projected Top 10 | 6-foot-7  6-foot-5

My issue with Knueppel is he’s very skilled but appears to play much shorter than he is. He seems to play like a 6-foot-1 or 6-foot-2 guy. To find out that he’s not even 6-foot-7 only confirmed my suspicions that he plays smaller than he is.

Jase Richardson | Michigan State | Projected Round 1| 6-foot-3  6-foot-0 1/2

What?! He’s shorter than Gary Payton II? This was a massive disappointment in the measurements for a promising 2-guard. Now, he’s kind of a point guard, except he’s not really a point guard. He does have a 6-foot-6 wingspan, but why would Michigan State’s listing set him up for a letdown like this? This was never going to benefit him for the NBA.

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(Top Photo: Alonzo Adams / USA Today Network via Imagn Images) )

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