If ever the Timberwolves were going to have a game set up on a silver platter for them to win, it was Friday night in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder, already below .500, came into the night with the league-minimum eight players available. One of the players out was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the dynamic point guard who leads the Thunder in scoring and assists.
The Wolves were without Karl-Anthony Towns and other contributors like Juancho Hernangomez and Jarrett Culver.
But they still had Malik Beasley and D'Angelo Russell, two players who should be capable of carrying the Wolves to a win in such a situation. They barely did.
Even though the Wolves nearly blew another fourth-quarter lead, they made enough plays in the final minutes, with Russell hitting a game-winning 3 after the Wolves almost gave the game away in a 106-103 win.
Once again, the Wolves entered a fourth quarter with a lead, but it wilted quickly as a 10-2 Thunder run tied the score 92-92 with 6:33 to play. Jake Layman saved the Wolves from collapse with a pair of 3s as the Wolves brought the lead back to 99-93. The Thunder capitalized on a Russell turnover to cut it to 99-98. The Wolves had led 103-100 when Al Horford missed a 3, but the Wolves couldn't get the rebound and Horford got another chance at a 3. This time he hit it to tie the score.
The Wolves had the ball with 25.7 seconds remaining — and promptly turned it over. But the Thunder missed at the other end, giving the Wolves the ball for the last shot. Russell connected from deep this time to give the Wolves the win as Hamidou Diallo's tying 3 fell short.
Russell had 21 while Beasley had 24. Horford had 26 for the Thunder.
It took a few minutes for the Wolves to realize the game had begun Friday as Oklahoma City opened by scoring the first eight points. Beasley woke them from their slumber by igniting a 13-2 response to that for the Wolves. Beasley had 10 first-quarter points and was 2 for 4 from 3-point range, the rest of the Wolves were 0 for 6.
The undermanned Thunder and young Wolves came into the night with two of the worst offenses in the league, and the first quarter didn't set them on a trajectory to change those numbers.
Most of the Wolves' offense came through Beasly early while Jarred Vanderbilt provided some hustle points and high volume rebounds relative to his playing time.
It wasn't until the second quarter that the Wolves started to get a little separation with Beasley on the bench and the second unit in. Vanderbilt continued his run of 10 effective minutes with eight points and six rebounds in that span. After missing his first four shots, Jaylen Nowell got a few to start falling and suddenly the Wolves had turned a 25-23 lead after the first quarter into a 36-28 lead. But the good will the bench had built was wasted when the starting unit came back on the floor. The Wolves couldn't hit from the outside—- they were just 2 of 14 in the first half from 3-point range outside of Beasley.
For all their absences, the Thunder still had Horford and Diallo (16 points), who had 16 and 12, respectively, in the first half. A 9-3 run brought Oklahoma City back within two and the Thunder closed the half on another 9-3 run to head into the locker room ahead 55-51.
Beasley continued to carry the Wolves in the second half as they erased that halftime deficit and the Wolves rebuilt a 68-65 lead.
But their teammates finally started hitting from deep. The Wolves shot 8 of 13 from 3-point range in the third quarter, with Russell hitting 3 and Nowell — who left after rolling his ankle in the fourth quarter — hitting two, including one at the end of the quarter to give the Wolves an 85-76 lead headed into the fourth, and this time, they got a win.
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The Star Tribune did not travel for this game. This article was written using the television broadcast and video interviews after the game.
