MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Timberwolves needed more than a win. They needed something definitive and resounding, they needed a reminder as to who they are.
More than anything, they needed to make the Oklahoma City Thunder think.
The terms of this Western Conference final series have yet to be decided, and the home team has won every game. Anthony Edwards reminded everyone the Thunder are a great team and beating them once doesn’t make a series.
But beating them soundly, in a way they hadn’t suffered defeat since the front end of a back-to-back set with the Lakers in early April, has to put doubt in the minds of the favored Thunder.
If nothing else, there’s now a belief in the Timberwolves locker room, because they got back to being themselves.
That’s what seemed crystal clear in the Timberwolves’ 143-101 thrashing of the Thunder on Saturday night, as the Timberwolves stopped trying to be teams that have given Oklahoma City trouble and threw their own “fastball,” in the words of Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch.
Or, perhaps, throwing their best haymaker. And it landed.
“We don’t feel psychologically disadvantaged when we step out on the floor,” Finch said. “We just had to kind of keep finding a better game within ourselves. We hadn’t really played our best basketball. Tonight we put it all together.”
They were 20 for 40 from 3-point range after being 11 for 39 and 15 for 51 (29 percent) in Games 1 and 2, respectively. And they held Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to perhaps his worst game of the season, as he scored just 14 with six assists and was hounded all night.
That’s the formula, if there is one here — protect the ball and get good shots, play physical defense and give extra attention to Gilgeous-Alexander in the half-court.
He won’t have many nights like this moving forward, but a game like this can erase the stench from the two stinkers and replenish a team’s belief in itself.
“I didn’t sense any loss of confidence from our team” Finch said. “I sensed frustration that we hadn’t played well, and, you know, hadn’t shot the ball well.”
Conversely, Edwards wasn’t lacking for confidence — as if we could ever imagine such a thing — and it seemed to permeate to his teammates. He was more physical and finally, he and his teammates hit open shots after two puzzling performances in Oklahoma City.
He took the game to Lu Dort, hitting five 3-pointers and got to the glass early as the Timberwolves led by 20 after the first quarter and were never threatened. Edwards finished with his best conference finals game, scoring 30 with 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
“He knew that we needed that type of start from our defense, and he brought it,” Finch said. “That’s what we need him to do, and that’s when he does it, it takes us to another level. I thought that’s what was really, really big in the first quarter, he got a couple of those steals. He was all over the place.”
Veteran point guard Mike Conley said during the time the Timberwolves had off in waiting for the winner of the Thunder-Denver Nuggets series, they put in two zone defenses similar to what the Nuggets used that gave Oklahoma City trouble. It led to indecision, overthinking and the Timberwolves looking out of sorts as it wasn’t their game, it was someone else’s playbook.
“It was brand new to us. Some guys were slow in rotations. But we’re more a man-to-man team,” Conley said. “Just do what we do better, be more locked in defensively on our man-to-man coverage and throw in that zone, here and there.”
“We’re not the same team as Denver. So it’s not apples to apples. So what works for us is us playing hard, man-to-man defense, being in gaps, being in passing lanes and being physical. So tonight, it worked in our favor.”
And with that fastball, Finch tossed a curveball in there by inserting rookie Terrence Shannon Jr. for significant minutes in the second quarter, and discovered something. Shannon, the 27th pick in last year’s draft, had moments this season but the playing time has been inconsistent.
As soon as he entered, however, he got to the lane for scores and hit corner 3s on his way to 15 points in 13 minutes.
“He’s willing to get to the paint, no matter what,” Edwards said of Shannon. “You have three people in there, he’s still gonna find a way to get down