Minnesota Timberwolves come up clutch on both ends and beat the Oklahoma City Thunder

Minnesota Timberwolves come up clutch on both ends and beat the Oklahoma City Thunder

Hello and welcome into another episode of lockdown wolves today on the show it’s the postgame podcast from the tales thrilling win over the OKC Thunder as the Wolves overtake the number one spot in the Western Conference once again we’ll talk about the late game execution which was night and day much much better

Than what we’ve seen over the last really week and a half to two weeks we’ll break that down plus a lot of other thoughts throughout the course of the game uh great play from Jaden from Jordan mcgoffin some unsung heroes for the wolves and some other key takeaways

With how the Wolves defended SGA defended Chet homr and defended the Thunder overall it’s all up coming welcome in you are locked on wolves you are locked on Timberwolves your daily Minnesota Timberwolves podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day hello and welcome to block wolves podcast part of the lock on podcast Network your team every day my name is Ben Beacon I’m the host of lock on wolves today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets

If your best bet of $5 or more wins visit fel.com lockon to get started happy Tuesday everybody it’s a victory Tuesday after a big wolves win over OKC on Monday night splitting the season series with the Thunder and retaking the number one spot in the Western Conference which the

Wolves have held for you know the better part of the last couple of months kind of been going back and forth over the last week with OKC the Wolves now have it and there is no tiebreak Advantage um as of right now and actually I mean Denver won two so now actually the

Wolves are a full game ahead of OKC and a half game ahead of Denver in the west and OKC officially dropped to third in the western coverage so lots to get to today on the postgame pod I want to start with the end of the game the timol’s execution in the fourth quarter

On both ends of the floor because it was phenomenal one of our key uh talk points on Monday following the debacle in San Antonio on Saturday night was how bad the wolves have been in fourth Quarters on both sides of the ball and they were

Great in this game I want to get to some other stuff some unsung heroes I want to talk about how the Wolves defended Josh giddy how they well really how they defended the Thunder by using Josh giddy to their advantage how they defended Chad hren who had an extremely quiet

Game lots to get to here today A big thank you off the top though for making lockon wolves your first listen every day of course this show is free and available everywhere including YouTube as well as all of your favorite audio platforms wherever you like to listen to podcast you can find lockon

Wolves you can also watch on the locked on Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV and you can follow on X at lockon wolves and also at B Beacon with two B’s two e’s cken all right uh let’s start with the fourth quarter I mean the wolves have

Been so bad in the fourth quarter here recently um and I mentioned this on on Monday but coming into the Spurs game when they were also terrible in the fourth quarter the Wolves had a net rating over their previous four games in the fourth quarter like over 45 that was

According to B Sports North during the Saturday broadcast against the Spurs and then they proceeded to kick the game away against San Antonio on Saturday night so it only got worse and I went back on the show on Monday and talked through like they had a 15 point

I think what was it three out of the last five games they were below 20 points or actually below 18 points in the fourth quarter and they won a couple of them simply because they had leads and the defense was decent but they Al had some stretches where the defense was

Not good like the Spurs game right um and in this game they locked down on both sides of the ball in this game um I ripped a lot on Chris Finch for rotations on Monday show and I think deservedly so with how things shook out on Saturday that was fixed there was not

A major rotation issue in this game Jade McDaniels played some um you know the the start of the second quarter start of the fourth quarter which he did not do on Saturday and I don’t think typically does um that seemed to be very Savvy McD

Got into a bit of foul trouble he picked up that fifth foul early in the fourth but with the way that um the Thunder were were resting SGA their pattern there that actually worked out where McDaniels was able to come back with four-ish minutes in the game and never

Ended up fing out so uh Chris Finch did a great job with the rotations but the last few possessions one of the things the wolves have been lacking so often this year on offense is of course structure and I’ve talked about this on lockdown wolves quite a bit but they actually ran some

Legitimate sets late in this game to at least get some pre-planned motion into the offense right like the Thunder obviously know the Wolves want to get the ball in anter cat’s hands and those guys are supposed to score and or create at the end of games and OKC’s a really

Good defensive team but what it did is it at least gave this sounds weird but like it gave ant like a purpose on this possession like hey you’re going to run this pick and roll if this isn’t open here’s the next action here’s the next option I

Thought the biggest that were were four or five consecutive possessions where they actually ran sets and got good shots off one was when n Alexander Walker almost had an open three in the left corner pump faked into a I don’t know 14-footer a mid-range shot and when

He was shooting the ball I actually thought to myself I don’t know that he’s goingon to make this nikil Alexander Walker does not shoot mid-range jumpers but he canned it and it was the absolute right read by him I was just nervous because like he doesn’t shoot from that

Area of the floor right like he’s not quite Nas where he is like allergic to mid-range jumpers but doesn’t shoot them with frequency and it was a great a great read by nikel iner walker and a fantastic make I think at the time it put them up one it was when they were

Kind of going back and forth with OKC and then I think it was the next time down the floor ant comes off a screen uh you know a high screen high ball screen and just kind of threads an an easy like not lazy but it was it it was

The perfect I don’t know how describe it was really the perfect bounce pass to Jaden McDaniels in the right corner and it was he was a pass away like he was a player away and ant kind of threaded it between the defender and whoever else

Was standing on the wing kind of in the slot perfect bounce pass to to Jaden McDaniels and I thought overall Ann actually didn’t pass the ball that well in this game uh the decision making was I think pretty good for him for the most part but there were a couple of

Possessions where he I thought he messed up the pass this was a perfect pass and it was maybe the biggest single possession of the game except for then he went uped it I think the next time down when he turned the corner and saw Lane to the basket and just threw down a

Two-handed just Hammer should have gotten the foul call SGA hit him clearly on the forearm and they didn’t call foul ant was like I know ant complains a lot but after the play the Thunder called the time out he went to every single official individually and said how did

You not see that you know grabbing his arm like he hit me right here on the forearm um and of course he he was hammered on the play and they didn’t they didn’t call it but um the point here is the structure in the offense at the end of the game and then

The execution by the players obviously like you can have all the structure you want you have to execute the play call and the wolves and specifically ant and N Alexander Walker did that extremely well down the stretch they didn’t try to do too much Aunt didn’t and and Cat

Didn’t um they also had a play I think it was might have been before all the ones I just listed I believe they actually like Rudy got the ball had a mismatch and ended up getting a dunk there’s a where they missed the shot inside and Jade McDaniels had an

Extremely acrobatic acrobatic tip in as he was kind of like losing his legs Underneath Him tipped it in and then fell to the floor it was an incredible play like the Stick tutiven of this team down the stretch is the exact opposite of what we’ve seen so often here

Recently and you know they finished the game with nine offensive rebounds which is a really good number for them and there were a couple big ones there down the stretch that to me was the biggest takeaway of this game and on the on the other end of the floor defensive ly

There were some possessions that were absolute clinics in this game for Minnesota there were some in the first half I want to talk more about some of the uh as I have them there on the the rundown on the side if you’re watching on YouTube some of the unsung heroes

Like Troy Brown Jr played rotation minutes in the first half for the first time in like I don’t know almost six weeks and there was one particular possession where like mid possession I was like oh that there’s no way the Thunder scoring this is perfect and it

Was like ball change sides of the floor rotations from the Wolves were perfect you had St like tbj stunted at somebody and recovered and and whoever’s man it was recovered like it was perfect and it led to like a deep Miss three by somebody I I can’t remember who it was

On the Thunder it was just a perfect defensive possession in the fourth quarter that’s also what we saw you watch back a couple of those Chad Homen was seeing ghost we’ll talk more about that um Rudy was locking down the paint cat was riding guys into the paint

Passing them off to Rudy and then Rudy was passing them back off to the perimeter it was just um Exquisite defense by the wolves in the late fourth quarter and the only way the Thunder were scoring was SJ getting to the line you know a couple spot up threes that he

Created those looks for Jaylen Williams and others um but the the level that the Wolves played out on both ends of the floor is how you have to play on the road against a a team that was number one in the west coming into this game that just beat you

In your house to go on the road KC and and yeah I know they’re on the second end of a back toback I know they just lost the Pistons but I mean honestly like I kind of expected them to come out even better because they lost to Detroit

24 hours prior right like they they want to get that bad taste out of their mouths and I just it’s fair to assume that the Wolves were looking ahead when they lost the Spurs on Saturday looking ahead to this game the Thunder were looking ahead last night to this game

And the Wolves ended up coming out on top plus no Mike Conley I didn’t even mention that like Conley didn’t play in this game that’s a significant piece to be missing for Minnesota I have some other key takeaways that’s what I want to do next I want to talk about the

Wolves non SGA plan I want to talk about some unsung heroes yes we’ll talk about free throws so we’ll do all that here next today’s episode of lock out wolves is brought To Us by our new friends at quiz today we’re g to have some fun and test your Timberwolves knowledge who

Scored the most points in a single game in Minnesota Timberwolves franchise history you should be able to get this one there’s a recent answer but even before the recent instance uh this player also held that record we’ll get back to that here in a second quiz with

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League go to lockon sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel all right some additional takeaways from this game beyond the close for Minnesota the first one is the non SGA plan that they had for or I guess the plan they had for non-sga Thunder players

This to me was was really obvious and they’ve deployed this before uh which is essentially load up on SGA make Josh giddy beat you from outside the ark um you know they kind of had Jaden McDaniels guard cat homr for stretches we’ll get to the chat thing in a second

Giddy is hilarious to me um I was at this game in OKC and uh Josh giddy made his first three three-pointers and I looked at my son and I said hey that’s the game plan they’re going to let let him shoot those actually after his second one I said

He’s not going to keep making those um and then he made his third one and I said I’m telling you he’s not going to make another one like they’re just going to let him keep shooting it sure enough he missed his next four three-pointers over the rest of the game one of them

Was almost immediately and then he he missed a couple later uh in the game and finished what four of seven or two of three of seven outside the arc and gidy ended up like I he wasn’t he didn’t have a very good game and he actually ended

Up only playing 19 minutes because the Wolves had this very clear and obviously you know the Wolves aren’t the only team that’s said hey make Josh gy beat us he’s the only like clear negative shooter on the floor for them but like the last time when the Wolves lost the

Thunder uh at home by what five U just over a week ago giddy Dort some of these guys did not shoot the ball that well and I remember saying on the postgame pod like hey this is almost the perfect game for Minnesota it was just the lake game

Execution and the 21 turnovers like those those things are major problems but they did really well on the glass like you need to they punished the thunder in the paint because they have the size Advantage you have to but you can’t hold Giddy and Dort and some of

These guys to bad shooting nights and then not win well they did it here lud Dort was 0 of six outside the arc giddy was three of seven outside the arc and I thought the Wolves had a good plan of trying to pack the paint trying to load

Up on SGA they played a zone for a fair amount of this game and and it bit them a little bit it was really more I think second quarter when the Thunder got some offensive rebounds that I think were almost a direct result of the Timber being in zone it’s just a little

Bit harder to Rebound in a Zone especially when you know you know NBA teams like you’re not boxing out on every play right that’s just not how guys Rebound in the NBA it’s hard to put a body on someone and grab a board in the zone when you’re when you’re playing

His own um they also did kind of this pseudo Zone thing where it was like they it’s kind of What teams do to Ant and we see teams try and do to Luca sometimes where you kind of play one and a half on the ball and you shade everybody like a

Half guy essentially you just got to look for back cuts and you can’t you try not to leave anybody wide open but if you do hopefully it’s Josh Giddy and overall you know it worked and actually Chris Finch said something about this in the postgame um I I watched it right

Before I recorded and I had this all in my notes already he literally brought up I forget exactly how he said it but he said yeah we had a plan to let make some guys beat us and early on they were and then later on they weren’t and it worked

Out something to that effect that’s exactly he was talking about Josh giddy right um and and it worked that’s exactly what they exactly what they were trying to do and it worked out to a te for Minnesota um Chad holgren Chad didn’t do too much against his uh

His hometown Squad four points on nine shots for Chad hren Rudy goar had him seen ghosts in this game and the first I think it was the first game the wolves and thunder played that the Wolves won the playing Tournament game at the end of November that uh Rudy blocked chat

Multiple times of the same possession it was like Clapp in his hands and pumping everybody up himself up Rudy was mid possession after just ding up and you know Chad had a couple of good games here when the Thunder won but they locked him down in this game and

Credit to Jaden McDaniels they had him guarding Chad using the combination of his length and his quickness to stay in front of Chad to not allow him to put the ball on the floor turn the corner like he might against slower players and then anytime hren had the ball near the

Paint Rudy was just an absolute deter and throughout the game but especially late too and there was one shot late that he altered there was a three that Chad just bricked off the front of the rim um I don’t even know that it was Rudy on the contest but I think it might

Have been cat actually but either way Chad just never looked comfortable in this game he had a couple of nice blocks but offensively he was a mess Four Points two of nine shooting 0 of two outside the arc two assists but he also had two turnovers it was just a really

Solid job by Minnesota on CET homr they just had a great plan and they said hey sja has to be the one to do all of the scoring for you guys otherwise you’re not going to beat us it’s exactly what happened uh Jaylen Williams was awesome

Again he had 20 points although it took him 17 shots to do it he only had three assists to two turnovers he was good but this is the problem with the Thunder is if Chad has an off game they don’t have anyone else besides SJ and Jaylen Wills

Now I want to be clear like they’re still really good they probably finish in the third or fourth seed in the west uh they’re and it’s mostly because the biggest re his SJ is a top I’ll call him top six top seven player not any worse

Than that in the league so of course they’re going to be really good um he’s the best player on the floor right when the Wolves play the Thunder but the wolves have the next like three best players right like like I mean you wouldn’t argue Jaylen Williams or Chet

Hren is a better player than Carlon towns Anthony Edwards Rudy goar like with a straight face you would you shouldn’t at least I mean don’t do that because it’s it’s not right so the Thunder of the best player with the wolves have the next best three players

And we could have a conversation then about you know legitimately about Conley and McDaniels and and you know their worth compared to Giddy Dort HR like right um but all that to say this is the problem like those two guys combined for 57 of the Thunders 101 so more than half

Of their points only one other player scored in double figures for them nobody else scored more than eight kendri Williams did a couple of big threes late in this game that kind of helped the Thunder stay in it uh but besides that like there wasn’t much

Else uh sgaf free throws this this topic is well that is the topic the Thunder attempted six uh excuse me the Thunder attempted 22 free throws 16 of them were by sheay gilis Alexander how many free free throws did the Wolves attempt well here let me put

It up on the screen for you if you’re watching on YouTube The Wolves attempted 15 free throws in this game how many did I say SJ attempted that’s right he attempted 16 free throws Shay gildas Alexander attempted more free free throws in the entire Timberwolves team there were a couple possession like

Sj’s incredible he turns the corner and like there aren’t many guys that can turn the corner on Alexander Walker or McDaniels and just beat him to the rim and he did a couple of times more than a couple of times but the way that he was officiated

In this game and the way that Anthony Edwards Anthony Edwards you know how many free throws ant got he got four ant shot 15 two-point shots and got four free throw attempts Shake Gil just Alexander shot 15 two-point shots and got 16 free throw attempts now drawing

Free throws is an art it is a skill there is skill involved right and I’ve said this about Joel embiid and be SGA you know go on down the list Luca Harden these guys all are really good at drawing fouls and a lot of the time they are legitimately fouled and it’s a

Combination of they’re good at it and they’re quick and it’s hard to defend them without legitimately fouling and they’re good at allowing the officials to see the fou call but there should not be a differential of 12 free throws these guys played virtually the same number of minutes they shot the

Exact same number of two-point field goals I you know I didn’t pull their shot charts but both of them are getting to the rim and shooting mid-range that’s in both of their games right they both like to get to the elbows and like you can’t tell me that

Anton deserve more than four free throws if SJ is going to get 16 right it’s just kind of crazy um now all that to say thankfully the wolves made their free throws they ended up you know only down four points at the line because the Thunder was 17 to 22

And the Wolves were 13 to 15 so uh you know you see that there Minnesota was only a minus four at the line and they were dead even on threes because they shot less threes but had shot a higher percentage which that’s basically the story of the season for the Wolves right

They still don’t shoot enough threes but they make them they get to line a fair amount and they mostly make them besides that Spurs game Saturday that was a big part of their loss was just what were they eight of 15 at the line so the Wolves free throw attempts in general

Are down a little bit here lately that’s something to track I think the wolves are um I don’t know I think we’re gonna as much as it gets tiresome to hear Anton cat specifically complain I think Chris Finch has had about enough of the Timber rolls being the best team in the

West for the majority of the season and an being a rising star and not getting the whistle that some of these other guys get like I don’t know it’s just just watch it all right I want to do unsung heroes here and which will lead right into individual studs and Duds and

That’s how we’ll close the show here today today’s episode of lock out wolves is brought to Aspire our friends at better help the show is sponsored by better help around New Year’s and we’re still around New Year we’re still uh I don’t know around the corner from

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That’s fanduel.com lockon make every moment more with FanDuel an official Sportsbook partner of the NFL all right some unsung heroes in this game that aren’t necessarily going to hit the the studs or Duds list because this was a stard dominated finish to this one let’s talk about Troy Brown Jr

Congrats to dbj for breaking the rotation or breaking into the rotation I should say uh for the first time since I don’t know it was before Christmas I think like six weeks ago five six weeks ago uh Troy Brown played some third or me second quarter minutes did not play

In the second half at all and didn’t register a stat other than he missed a shot and committed a foul um I thought he played well I mentioned a defensive possession in the first segment that he stunted on rotated well it was crisp um he was you know of

Course partly played really played because Mike Conley was out he got the minutes that shake Milton had gotten Saturday but they also just played Nik Alexander Walker a lot more uh he played 35 minutes Alexander Walker did in this game and uh so tbj only got six minutes

Of run in the first half but I thought he played well enough I was a little surprised didn’t have him play in the second like some of those Kyle Anderson minutes when Jaden McDaniels went out with the fifth foul and Kyle Anderson took a shot below

The belt uh was it late third early fourth quarter something like that so I was a little surprised that there wasn’t more of an opportunity for brown to get minutes in the second half but overall uh he was really good and I think he’s earned more minutes I’ve I’ve

Been a big Troy Brown guy on this show for a long time I think he deserves minutes even if they’re just like short minutes at the end of quarters whatever it is like he gives you energy he gives you shooting he can handle the ball a

Little bit I I just think there’s a lot that he can bring to the table Jordan MC goofin was phenomenal in this game I know he’s he was only a plus one in 14 minutes this is but like his job isn’t to expand the lead right his job is to

Hold serve like it just is like not everybody’s gonna be a positive plus minus you got to be around that zero Mark if you’re coming in off the bench like mlin he got he scored 10 points in 14 minutes didn’t miss a shot knocked down a couple of huge threes um and also

Made a tough layup in the fourth quarter got into the paint and finished over chat just a really phenomenal play from Jordan mcclaflin only one assist to one turnover like it wasn’t a noisily like strong mlin game but the 10 points were pretty noisy he brought what he needed to to

The table was really good n Alexander Walker like uh he’s maybe not an unsung hero cuz he played 35 minutes but to be tasked with guarding his cousin SGA the way that he did and also contribute offensively he hit some he had some big plays down the stretch he was only two

Of seven outside the arc but played real well uh so good game for Alexander Walker studs and duts uh Anthony Edwards man 27 points on 10 of 20 shooting three of five outside the arc hit a big three uh what was it late I guess it was in the fourth

Quarter when the Wolves were kind of trying to hold serve the thunder made a bit of a push after some sloppy possessions from Minnesota hit a deep three over a couple of guys in the left slot only got to line for four free throws which is kind of crazy should

Have been that monster dunk we already talked about was crazy four rebounds four assists he did have four turnovers but this was a good ant game um again pay no mind to the minus one plus minus he was very very good in this game um carony towns he had a relatively quiet

211 and six six of 15 shooting not his most efficient game but he two of four on three seven of eight at the line had a couple Rim out had well had a free throw at the a free throw Rim out but also had a couple layups Rim out um I

Thought this was a good cat game as well and my third stud is Rudy goar 12 points 18 rebounds six of six shooting missed his only free throw attempt which was a uh oldfashioned three-point play in the fourth quarter one assist one steal one block and uh that block was on chat

Actually cat had a block on was it chat it was in the open floor early in the game uh which was a really incredible play but this is a good Rudy game as well and and they didn’t do a whole lot of forcing the ball to him there was

Only I think one lob that I can remember and it was finished in the first half he had a couple of offensive rebound cleanups he had the post up I alluded to um other than like when he tried to play point Rudy in in the open floor in the

Second quarter besides that like this is a really good Rudy go Bear game I didn’t talk about Jade McDaniels like he’s somewhere in between like he played really well also the the foul trouble it’s tough to say out a foul trouble this particular game but he was essentially the second scorer with some

Of these units he was actually he finished third on the wolves and scored in this game with 14 points I easily could give him a fourth stud for this one um because he scored a little bit early second early fourth quarter in those rotation you know uh his turn in

That rotation that he normally doesn’t get thought he played really well um so kudos to Jaden and I mentioned he guarded cat for stretches and was very good on Chet hren as well uh late in the game when Josh gidy was on the floor Rudy was guarding Josh giddy just leave

Him in the corner guard the paint pack the paint deter let Josh giddy hang out in the corner and uh seemed to work out pretty well as the Wolves I’m going to go ahead and call this holding them under 100 because they were at 99 and the Wolves

Just let whoever it was get an easy two in the closing seconds that didn’t matter so this was another game they really did hold the opponent under 100 for all intents and purposes I’m going to throw up those stats one more time the Wolves held okay seated just over

44% shooting um Minnesota only turned it over 13 times which is still a little more than you’d like it to be but remember talked about this on Monday show OKC turns opponents over at a higher rate than any other defense in the league they’re number one in defensive turnover rate the Wolves

Turned it over 21 times each of the last two games against OKC only 13 turnovers turnovers for Minnesota here and that is an absolute win uh for Minnesota in that category they were also a plus seven on the glass you’d like that margin to be a little bigger against a small team like

OKC that struggles on the boards uh but they did enough on the offensive glass uh especially early that helped them keep Pace when the Thunder had a had a little bit of a you know multi-p possession lead in the first half offensive rebounding was big early and

Uh the Wolves again more than held serve on the glass in this game that was really really important all right as we said off the top the wolves are now alone at top the Western Conference a half game ahead of Denver and one game ahead of OKC next up for Minnesota the

Wolves have on Wednesday and on Wednesday’s show we’ll preview this but the wolves have the Dallas Mavericks back in Minnesota on Wednesday uh we’ll talk about that matchup we’ll talk about the last couple times the Wolves face Dallas um this is the I think the last time we’ll see Dallas

This year yeah the fourth and final regular season match up between the wolves and Mavs that is Wednesday evening 7M back at Target Center after this four game Road Trip uh that’s all I have for today here on the show a big thank you for making locked wolves your

First listen every day of course the show is free and available everywhere including YouTube as well as all of your favorite audio platforms you can also watch on the lock up on Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV and you can follow an X at lockon T wolves

And also at B Beacon with two be’s to ease cken of course lockon has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube lockon sports today is here for you 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of lockon plus our national

Shows covering every league go to lock on sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 247 streaming channel the lockdown wolves podcast is part of the lockon podcast Network remember the lockdown network is your local experts on all the biggest stories once again I’m Ben Beacon this

Is the lockd Wolves podcast and we’ll catch you next time

The Minnesota Timberwolves put an end to their recent fourth-quarter woes with a huge clutch performance on both ends of the floor ina. big win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) breaks down crunch time, as well as other key moments throughout the game. Plus, kudos to their Wolves on their plan to defend the vaunted Thunder offense, forcing Chet Holmgren into a rough night and making Josh Giddey try (and fail) to beat them. Also, a few unsung heroes for the Timberwolves along with individual studs and duds.

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