Anthony Edwards remains confident the Minnesota Timberwolves can find a way back into the Western Conference finals, despite a humbling 114-88 Game 1 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder ran away with the contest in the second half as Edwards and the Wolves struggled to get anything going offensively.
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— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 21, 2025
He managed just five points in the final two quarters and 18 overall as the Thunder’s man-to-man schemes worked to perfection.
“I definitely got to shoot more,” Edwards said. “I only took 13 shots. Probably just get off the ball a little more, play without the ball. I think that will be the answer. Because playing on the ball, they’re just going to double and sit in the gaps all day.
“So, got to go watch some film and pick it apart. We’ll figure it out.”
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Randle knows Wolves need to knuckle down
The Wolves also lost the opener in their semi-final series against the Golden State Warriors before hitting back to win 4-1 but Julius Randle says that doesn’t necessarily mean a comeback is a forgone conclusion.
“We proved that we can do it, but we got to make it happen, too,” Randle said. “We can’t just be like, ‘All right, we did it last series, we’re going to do it again.’ This is a great team. They’ve been playing great basketball all year. So, the good thing is we proved to ourselves that we can do it. But we got to make it happen.”
The Thunder proved once again why they are the NBA’s best defensive team, shutting down space for the Wolves and then capitalising on the turnovers.
SGA and Daigneault enjoy Game 1 triumph
That allowed the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to profit at the other end of the court.
“We try to play to our identity,” he said after finishing with 31 points despite going 2 of 13 from the floor in the first half. “We did a good job of that on defense. Our defense definitely gave us life early in the game and kept us in it.”
It was another tactical triumph for Thunder coach Mark Daigneault.
“The turnovers are never what we talk about,” Daigneault said. “We talk crowding around the ball. We talk about being aggressive in our help, trusting our help, trusting our scheme, trusting our teammates. And that tends to yield turnovers when you really have that going. But it also yields tough shots, out-of-rhythm shots. So that’s what we’re trying to do. But the guys did a great job of drumming that up really from the jump.”
