National Basketball Association

OKC Dominates Minnesota to Move to 5-1 on Season

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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How about those Thunder? OKC pulled out the win 112-92 in an impressive performance against Minnesota Saturday night.

Rocky Balboa once said “…It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward, that’s how winning is done.”

The last time we saw our Oklahoma City Thunder they were lying beaten, bloody and bruised in the first round of a four-round heavyweight fight against Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors.

OKC came into this game winning 24 of the last 28 against the Timberwolves, and they got off to a really good start in the first. The offensive movement, both on and off the ball was a thing to behold for the Thunder in the first quarter.

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Russell was a maestro in the first, but it was the extra passes and all the hustle that really stood out to me. On one play in particular, Domantas Sabonis airballed an open corner three, but cut to the basket, and got hit in stride by Steven Adams to finish for two points over Dieng.

Speaking of Sabonis…The rookie played much better tonight, even if the numbers didn’t necessarily reflect it. He finished the night with 5 assists, but he set up more buckets than the numbers let on. Domas still needs to move his feet more on defense and his offensive game needs a little polish, but he has a lot of potential. He makes a lot of smart plays for a 20 year old. Sabonis didn’t even pick up his second foul until there were three minutes left in the second quarter. #babysteps.

This was a really physical game, especially early, and the refs swallowed their whistles like it was the 1990’s. Okay, maybe not that physical, but you get the point. The Thunder ended the first quarter with 32 points, the most allowed in a quarter by the Timberwolves this season, and only gave up 25, the fewest scored by the Timberwolves in a quarter this season.

Nov 5, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) reacts to a play in action against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Thunder were sloppy in the second, and at times looked rather unengaged. The Wolves were able to get back into the game, and the Thunder had no answer for Karl-Anthony Towns, who finished the first half with 25 points on 10-14 shooting. Seriously, that kid is going to be an absolute monster for a long time. He’d finish the game with 33 points, and it could’ve been more if he didn’t leave with an injury in the second half.

The Thunder were particularly atrocious from the free throw line in this one shooting 15-24, or 62.5%. That’s almost hack-a-Shaq numbers, except from a whole team. No Bueno.

Everything changed after the half, as the Thunder erupted after Russell Westbrook was called for a technical foul a la Steve Kerr two nights ago. On most nights, Dieng would’ve been whistled for bumping Russell as he drove to the rim, but like I said, the refs really weren’t calling much tonight.

Nov 5, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Kris Dunn (3) react after a play during the third quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Thunder locked the Wolves down on defense, who didn’t score a field goal for around seven minutes in the third. The Thunder went on an impressive 18-1 run, with a bunch of beautiful transition dunks (OKC finished the game with 17 fast break points). The Wolves never recovered.

Russell was his normal supercalifragilisticexpialidocious self, finishing the night with 28 points on 50% shooting, (4-5 from deep!!), with 6 boards, and 8 dimes in only 28 minutes. Steven Adams had 14 on 6-7 from the field with 8 boards. He got worked a bit on defense by Towns, but nobody was stopping him tonight. I’d still like to see Adams get more than 7 looks in a night, but the big man looked great all night, making some slick feeds, and at one point he hit a sky hook off of a dope little half-spin move.

Nov 5, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter (11) drives to the basket in front of Minnesota Timberwolves center Cole Aldrich (45) during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Kanter did Kanter things off the bench, and he got into a nice little wrestling match with Towns over a rebound in the third. Enes finished with 20 points and 10 boards in 21 minutes. Semaj Christon looked good in 20 minutes of play, and he continues to make Cam Payne look very tradeable.

Finally, Victor Oladipo played a team high 31 minutes, and he’s beginning to look more comfortable in his tertiary role on offense. He was the recipient of several nice feeds from Westbrook off beautiful cuts for easy dunks. Dipo finished with 12 points on 5-9 shooting. As a whole, the Thunder shot a tidy 52.3% from the field, and 43.6% from beyond the arc.

One of the keys to the Thunder’s defensive gameplan tonight was to take Andrew Wiggins out of the game. Coming into this one Wiggins was 12th in the league with 24 PPG. He finished with 7 on 3-13 shooting. OKC held the Wolves to an abysmal 39.3% from the field and 21.1% from deep.

The Thunder did give up 17 offensive rebounds, however. OKC finished the night with 24 assists and only 12 turnovers! The Thunder also had 23 points off of 17 Minnesota turnovers.

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All in all this was a much needed response to the shellacking the Thunder took against the Warriors last time out. Oklahoma City improved to 5-1 on the year and the Thunder host Hassan Whiteside and the Miami Heat on Monday.

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