NBA playoffs takeaways: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Thunder to win over Timberwolves in Game 1

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The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-88 at home Wednesday night, taking a 1-0 series lead over Minnesota as the fight for a spot in the NBA Finals begins.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder in scoring with 31 points, adding nine assists and five rebounds.

Minnesota kept it close in the first half, but Oklahoma City secured its first double-digit lead in the final few minutes of the third quarter and stayed in control until the buzzer.

Julius Randle led scoring for Minnesota with 28 points. Anthony Edwards hurt his ankle late in the first quarter and spent the first few minutes of the second in the locker room but returned to the game, scoring 18 points.

The Thunder and Timberwolves play Game 2 in Oklahoma City on Thursday.

WHAT a SEQUENCE for the THUNDER ⛈️

Dort defense on one end.
Shai and-1 on the other.

OKC LEADING LATE in GAME 1 of the WEST FINALS on ESPN!! pic.twitter.com/p8qU8x16TK

— NBA (@NBA) May 21, 2025

Oklahoma City shows its depth

It wasn’t a particularly pretty conference finals offensive debut for the Thunder’s two All-Stars. Gilgeous-Alexander missed 17 of his 27 shots. Jalen Williams missed 10 of his 16. Eleven of Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31 points were scored from the free throw, and his continued ability to get there will surely be a national talking point the next 48 hours.

But the Thunder won this game with their depth and defense around Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams. They played 10 rotation guys who all had their moments, significantly outplaying a Minnesota bench that finished with a collective 7 of 36 shooting in the competitive portion of the game.

Alex Caruso was one of the last to reach the floor for Oklahoma City, but again made a large imprint, guarding multiple positions and making all three of his 3s. Cason Wallace played 33 minutes, guarded well and quietly spread seven assists. Isaiah Hartenstein was given floater range opportunities repeatedly in the first three quarters and made six of them before riding out the fourth quarter on the bench.

Chet Holmgren was the lone Thunder center in the fourth quarter. The sometimes forgotten third member of this evolving OKC trio was quiet in the first three quarters. But he erupted in the first five minutes of the fourth, much of which was with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench: Two dunks, a corner 3 and a putback in two blocks during one of the defining surges of the series-opening win. — Anthony Slater, senior writer

Minnesota’s offense struggles

The Timberwolves worried about a flat Game 1 performance like they had last series. The defense was great in the first half and decent the whole game. But the offense was abysmal, and that prevented them from challenging in a winnable game.

The Timberwolves shot 35 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from 3-point range. Anyone not named Randle couldn’t buy a bucket. And he only got five shots in the second half to finish with 28 points.

Oklahoma City deserves some credit for its swarming defense. But the Wolves also just missed a lot of really good looks. Naz Reid, Donte DiVincenzo and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who have sparked the Wolves’ offense all season long, combined to shoot 7 for 36, including 5 for 28 from deep.

The Wolves are just not going to beat the Thunder if they don’t cash in on their open opportunities. They made 15 3s overall to Oklahoma City’s nine in non-garbage time minutes, but the gulf could have — and needs to be — wider for them to have a chance in this series.

This game was always going to be a difficult test for the Timberwolves, who had five days off after dispatching the Warriors in five games last week. Coach Chris Finch ramped up the live action in the practices ahead of this series to try to keep them sharp.

The Wolves did everything they did not want to do in Game 1. But they turned the ball over too often (17), missed too many open 3s (35) and fouled too much. They will have to be so much sharper in Game 2 to earn a split. — Jon Krawczynski, senior writer

Officiating frustrates Timberwolves

The Wolves knew they were going into a series that could frustrate them from an officiating standpoint. Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the craftiest players in the league and one of the league’s biggest foul baiters. They said all the right things about keeping their composure ahead of the series, but there was plenty of unhappiness in this game. Gilgeous-Alexander spent a lot of the time on the floor, and at one point in the first quarter, Edwards drew a technical foul for tossing the ball at Gilgeous-Alexander while he was on the ground in disgust.

Jaden McDaniels threw his arms up quizzically after a number of calls and fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. Chris Finch, assistant Micah Nori and several players berated the crew of James Capers, Tyler Ford and Mark Lindsay for much of the fourth quarter as the Thunder pulled away.

The Thunder had plenty of gripes of their own. Isaiah Hartenstein and Lu Dort were in foul trouble much of the game, and the Wolves took 21 free throws to Oklahoma City’s 26.

Gilgeous-Alexander is going to get calls. He’s going to fall to the floor. That’s part of his game. As frustrating as it can be to experience, the Wolves have to find a way to better channel their emotions. The Thunder, albeit the younger team, showed more maturity in handling calls they did not like. It wasn’t the difference in the game, but it will be something that has to improve the rest of the way. — Krawczynski

Randle makes the difference — or not

For almost the entire first half, this looked like it was going to be the Randle game. The Timberwolves’ big man had 20 points, with the Thunder bigs (and Alex Caruso) failing miserably to keep him in check. Randle was burying threes as if he was Karl-Anthony Towns, and barreling through the lane in a way that Denver’s Nikola Jokić struggled so mightily to in the previous series.

Considering that Randle was widely seen as a massive X-factor in this series, this was the sort of opening message that made Minnesota look like a true threat to the Thunder. And then… the second half happened. Randle scored just eight points in the second half, and, as Krawczynski noted above, had just five shots.

It’s not a matter of Game 1 being Randle’s fault as much as it is this harsh truth: If he’s not the superior second star in this series, compared to either OKC’s Jalen Williams or Chet Holmgren, then the Timberwolves are likely cooked. — Sam Amick, senior writer

(Photo: Brett Rojo / Imagn Images)

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