ESPN reacts to Minnesota Timberwolves beat Oklahoma City Thunder 107-101; Edwards 27 Pts, SGA 37 Pts

ESPN reacts to Minnesota Timberwolves beat Oklahoma City Thunder 107-101; Edwards 27 Pts, SGA 37 Pts

Away with a six-point Victory here inside of paycom Center as we welcome you to live I’m Paris Lawson sitting next to our very own Royce young and Royce despite that final score this was a very fun game inside of this building 24 lead changes that’s the most lead

Changes in a Thunder game so far this season yeah it was a battle Paris and you know it if you could feel it early in this game the defensive intensity that this one was played with again the thunderer coming off a game yesterday but it didn’t look like they were on a

Back toback with the kind of energy that they played with this was a very physical game that extended well into the second half both teams really going at each other um some history here obviously this is the fourth time they’ve already met this season but it really came down to some critical

Moments down the stretch wolves hit six of 10 from three in the fourth quarter it felt like that uh uh McDaniels three from the corner was a big time shot but again it was a great battle and one that you can look back on a little bit this a

Little bit that and it could have gone the other way you know I thought it was interesting neither team really was able to grow out a a large lead throughout this entire night Minnesota had the largest lead and it was 10 points in the third quarter and it lasted about a

Second because the Thunder was able to respond with a run of their own absolutely and I mean again this was just a magnificent game of two good teams going back and forth and everybody that watched it there’s a lot of talk right now because of the offensive

Explosion in the NBA with some of these big scores about nobody plays all that much defense anymore well I I tell you put the tape onto this game right here because this was a defensive NBA game two extremely good defensive teams going at each other and some big shot making

SGA was magnificent down the stretch in this one keeping the Thunder close defense still very much alive in this league all right let’s bring in Chris fiser and Michael cage who are on the call for us tonight guys what did you see yeah thank you Paris we saw a really

Intense game from from start to finish I mean both these teams coming out with a purpose on the defensive end it did not feel like the first game coming off of a long road trip or back toback or the fifth game in seven days Michael and

These were two teams that were dug in throughout and you just couldn’t get very much at any point no extended runs no extended leads comes down to the fourth quarter and it’s uh it’s Minnesota that goes plus 10 well you know in a game like this you you know a

Bunch of punches thrown and you wait for the hay maker neither team could throw the hay maker I I like what Roy talked about with the three-point shooting that was the big difference in the fourth quarter for the timber wolves because no one could pull away from no one and you

Know when you have these kind of games in these Dog Days of January you know it’s just a matter of trying to muster up collectively the energy to make things happen the Thunder did that being down 10 points in that third quarter went ahead going to the fourth with a

Plus four on the scoreboard so but give the timber wolves credit they made the shots they needed to make they got the post-ups down low where they needed to just to give them just enough Edge on the scoreboard to win the ball game energy you talk about that and it’s been

Such a a point of emphasis for the Thunder throughout this entire month from Mark dagel and all these games all these backto backs you you have to like the fact that the Thunder had the energy necessary in this one well this this is what uh five games in seven days and

You’re coming off a East Coast road trip and you know what you you come up with that kind of energy that’s what I like most of all and that was a big concern of mine coming into the game tonight is can you get that energy you know a after

Flying in from Detroit yesterday you know you know and you got you know one of the top teams in the Western Conference waiting on you here in Oklahoma City and you play them down to the wire that’s when you start to learn the Cadence of this game this is where

You can move forward off some lot a lot of good things you did tonight where you know this you know this team was you know was probably fatigued Paris Royce it’s kind of remarkable that this is the fourth game between these two teams and this is the third one that was almost

The exact same blueprint as a previous two I mean just defensive oriented grinded out first one to 100 today tonight it goes to Minnesota yeah these two teams have a lot of history of low-scoring defensive battles that’s for sure Chris and Mike thank you so much

And Royce I thought they brought up a really good point about the energy that OKC was able to bring from the start of this game which is required when you’re you’re going up a team as potent as Minnesota and they were on the the Thunder were on the second night of a

Back toback yeah they’re going to test your energy when you play against a team of the defensive ability of the Timberwolves again number one in the league and defensive rating cage pointed it out fifth game in seven nights back toback I mean those are just realities

Of the schedule and every team has to battle through these sorts of things it doesn’t help when you’re playing a team the level of the Timberwolves that are going to push you physically the way that they did the thunder in this game and it wasn’t obviously the defensive

Element of it but they really they’re physical on the glass they got size with Carl towns and Rudy goar and Nas Reed so they’re really testing you in a lot of different ways and again you know the the sport is outcome Bas base there’s a final score but there is something

Positive to take from this and just that’s from the competitive element that the Thunder played with throughout this game because they were in a tough spot coming in they really were and they made this team fight to the Finish let’s roll the tape starting from the beginning but

This one this one came down to the final minute it was a great battle between both these really good teams yeah take a look at these final stats here and you see just how even this game was both teams shooting around 48 44% both teams made 14 three-pointers in this game 24

Lead changes and you see the other numbers there 13 turnovers 12 turnovers I mean this game was just as close as tight as it could be and it really just came down to that final minute there Roy where Minnesota just seemed to make a couple of big buckets in the Thunder

Unable to get the timely stop that they needed to potentially turn the ties for sure and and again like on that graphic you know you got to give a lot of credit to the Timberwolves Thunder 34 points in the paint tonight the Thunder put up 34

Points in the paint a lot of times in the first half so the the Wolves did an incredible job of really building a wall at the rim because the Thunder like to score and drive more than any team in the league in terms of attacking downhill but Minnesota with a guy like

Rudy goar protecting the rim they did an incredible job of playing to their identity which is on the defensive end they are the number one defense in the NBA for a reason that’s right and the Thunder definitely put up quite a fight tonight against that number one defense

In the NBA all right let’s send it over to the Press room now we’re Thunder head coach Mark dagel is at the podium Nick Gallow Casey Thunder uh Mark just some great intensity from both sides tonight um what did you think of of the game play and and the way that this one

Flowed uh I mean that was obviously an elevated game I thought uh both teams played really hard uh I thought the way we defended rebounded uh competed on the glass really gave us a great chance throughout the game even when uh we went through some offensive uh droughts which

Obviously happened in the game uh the defense kept it in a in a manageable place and we were able to put some runs together and put some pressure on them but credit them I thought they outplayed Us in the fourth uh made some timely plays uh but you know we weren’t short

On effort or energy tonight you kind of mentioned The Possession game uh in the last few minutes they went on that 90 run anything execution wise that you noticed on either side of the ball um I mean I thought we could have you know I thought they just generated better shots

In that part of the game than we did uh so again credit them um but I just thought we competed really hard tonight especially on the defensive end I thought we were really physical um did the job on that end gave ourselves a really good chance obviously 107 points

Or whatever is is enough to win on most nights for us uh offensively we just weren’t as good as we could be just the way things kind of unraveled there and the fourth and it felt like I mean we’ve we’ve talked about Chet’s hesitation on spot of three some but it

Felt like a lot of those guys were just hesitating some did you did you sense some of that late um I don’t know I mean I think we can you know learn from the game I mean we got to stay aggressive in a game like that I did think um you know

In the first half and coming out of halftime um we didn’t embrace the imperfection of the game you know it’s not going to be easy when it’s two good teams going against each other in a battle like that and then I thought you know we started to solve problems

Together uh and got a little juice going you know in the third so you know it was an uncomfortable game I think for both teams uh and we got to embrace the discomfort of the game uh in a high level game like that when you say you guys didn’t embrace the imperfection of

The game what do you mean in what ways it’s going to be hard you know against a good team when two good teams are going at it like that possession game It’s a Grind offense isn’t coming easy to either team it’s a very physical game um that’s what kind of elevated games like

That feel like and um we’ve been great this season at kind of grinding through that you know the last time we played them was a great example I thought it tonight it took us a while to get to that and when we did in the third uh we

Were obviously really good we’re able to take a lead um into the fourth quarter so it’s no secret sorry it’s it’s no secret the kind of season Rudy’s had on the defensive end I just wonder what you saw from him in that final quarter specifically to you know create

Separation yeah he did a really good job I mean their whole defense tonight was really good I thought uh top to bottom they really competed I thought they did a good job of changing defenses in the first half uh and keeping us off balance uh I thought they competed on that end

Of the floor I thought we did too was two uh really team really really competitive teams uh competing hard in the game uh and they obviously met a few more plays than we did Mark I know everybody’s pretty tired at this time of year every every team and especially as

You’ve talked about with January but ched has played every game and he’s played all 16 in this month and that’s you know that’s two College months I just wonder if you’re if you see any any particular signs with him of any of that wearing on him I don’t know I mean you

Can ask him but um he’s a competitor you know I he obviously didn’t have his best game tonight but um yeah I’d never make assumptions about something like that season low 34 points in the paint tonight uh was that more of good job on them or do you feel feel like you guys

Could have did a better job in getting there a little bit of both I think uh a lot of it’s them and you got to have a relentlessness about you against that team you know it’s very difficult to get them kind of on the first crack and I

Thought we left something to be desired there in the first half um in terms of our our willingness to grind possessions and and find a crack against them but that’s why they’re a good defense they the best defense in the NBA and then seven assists in the first quarter and

Then 14 from there on out again was that feel like that was em did you feel like you guys settled a little bit more could have moved the ball a little bit more this is how they were guarding us you know they were switching a lot of our stuff and that b spee

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ESPN reacts to Minnesota Timberwolves beat Oklahoma City Thunder 107-101; Edwards 27 Pts, SGA 37 Pts