Oklahoma City’s Historic Elite Defense Front and Center in Close-Out Game 5
The Oklahoma City Thunder Dominated the Timberwolves in the Close-Out Game of the Western Conference Finals, 124-94. Oklahoma City would use the historic defense to stifle the Minnesota Timberwolves from the jump in this game, as this defense is one of those defenses that has already made history. If this play continues, they will continue to make that history in the NBA Finals. So with all of that being said, let’s look at this defensive performance in great detail afterwards in the third-largest win to clinch a Finals appearance since 1950.
The First Quarter Sealed The Win for Oklahoma City
The First Quarter of this game was tied at 3 at one point, then all of a sudden, the Thunder ended the quarter on a 23-6 run from that point, as the nine points would be the Timberwolves’ fewest points in any quarter in the playoffs in franchise history.
The Thunder forced the Timberwolves into some tough shots, but the main thing was the turnovers that they forced into easy points in transition. ESPN’s Tim Legler on SC with SVP would call this Historic Defense “Takers of Joy,” and that analogy fits perfectly with this team as they are a pack of Heynases on that side of the court, as they forced 21 turnovers in this game on Wednesday.
Former Nuggets Coach Michael Malone also gave some great analysis on SC with SVP about their defense by saying, “These guys are unrelenting at everything they do defensively,” Malone said. “Great hands, shrink the floor, collapse on the ball, they made it really hard for Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle to play in space. And if you get beat, there is a guy waiting.” Malone also said that Valuing the Ball is going to be the key for the Team that will go against Oklahoma City in the Finals.
SGA on Their Competitive Spirit
SGA was also interviewed by Scott Van Pelt afterwards on his SportsCenter, and SVP asked Shai about the appetite to compete that they have, as they have been blowing out teams, especially at home. “We don’t ever play the score,” SGA said. “We play possessions, we play to our standard every possession, and we try to win every possession. When you do that, you go on big runs, you look up, you’re up 20, up 30, you never know what you’re up. But we don’t focus on the score, we focus on being the best version of us, and that’s why we are a pretty good team.”
That competitive fire would explain why the Thunder have the best point differential in NBA History at a 12.9 margin. With all of the other teams that they are ahead of won the Title, so this team has a lot left on the table, but this team is ready to continue that train of history-making.
Final Thoughts
Oklahoma City will be the huge favorites in the NBA Finals, no matter who comes out of the Eastern Conference, and they will be ready once again, as Anthony Edwards gave credit in his Postgame Conference with the Media at the start of it. They’ll have a week and a day until Game 1 next Thursday, so that will be interesting to see what this defense does to either the Pacers or the Knicks in Oklahoma City next week. Total Apex Sports will have more NBA coverage ahead of the Finals, especially the rest of the Eastern Conference Finals and Listicles of Finals moments.
