The Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves are the two teams left standing in the West. The Thunder have a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals after a clutch victory in Monday’s Game 4. OKC will have the chance to advance to the NBA Finals on Wednesday night as the team hosts Game 5.
Both franchises are looking for a long-awaited NBA Finals appearance. Oklahoma City has not been to the NBA Finals since 2012, while the Timberwolves have no Finals appearances in their history.
The top-seeded Thunder have been the West’s top team all season long. They won 68 games in the regular season and swept the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs. But they were tested in the second round by Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets. OKC won the second-round series in seven games, blowing out Denver in Game 7. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the presumptive NBA MVP, has been leading the Thunder in scoring throughout the playoffs and posted 31 points in Game 1 against the Wolves.
The Wolves have a superstar scorer of their own as Anthony Edwards has brought Minnesota to the conference finals for the second year in a row. The Timberwolves eliminated the Lakers and Warriors in five games through the first two rounds.
The Timberwolves hope to avenge last postseason’s conference finals disappointment, as they lost in five games against the Dallas Mavericks in 2024. The Thunder are in the conference finals for the first time since 2016, when they came up short against the Warriors.
Below is the complete schedule for the Western Conference finals.
Western Conference finals schedule
All times Eastern
Game 1: Thunder 114, Timberwolves 88
Game 2: Thunder 118, Timberwolves 103
Game 3: Timberwolves 143, Thunder 101
Game 4: Thunder 128, Timberwolves 126 — OKC leads 3-1
Game 5: Wednesday, May 28 | Timberwolves vs. Thunder | 8:30 p.m., ESPN/fubo
*Game 6: Friday, May 30 | Thunder vs. Timberwolves | 8:30 p.m., ESPN/fubo
*Game 7: Sunday, June 1 | Timberwolves vs. Thunder | 8 p.m., ESPN/fubo
Thunder vs. Timberwolves odds
Odds via DraftKings
- Series odds: Thunder -5000, Timberwolves +1600
- Game 5 odds: Thunder -8.5, O/U 220.5
Thunder vs. Timberwolves: Game 5 best bet
The Thunder have held Julius Randle to just five points in the paint per game in this series. He is getting nothing at the basket whatsoever after averaging 12.6 paint points per game in the first two rounds. That means he is almost exclusively a jump shooter, and jump shooters on the road in elimination games are rarely a good bet. Expect the Thunder to keep Randle quiet yet again on Wednesday as they attempt to clinch the Western Conference crown. The pick: Randle Under 16.5 Points
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