Timberwolves Roll Over Thunder, 143-101

The Oklahoma City Thunder can cancel the coronation and the parade, at least for now--after convincingly taking a 2-0 Western Conference Finals lead versus the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Thunder suffered a historic loss in game three as the Timberwolves led by as much as 45 points before prevailing, 143-101. The Timberwolves led 72-41 at halftime, setting a franchise playoff record for most points in a half and tying the third largest halftime lead in a Conference Finals game since 1971. They also set the franchise record for most points in a playoff game, and broke the NBA record for largest victory margin in any game--regular season or playoffs--versus a team that won 65 or more games that season. This was the worst playoff loss in Thunder history, and the second biggest playoff win in Timberwolves history.

The Thunder opened the game with a 4-0 run before the Timberwolves hit them with an avalanche, storming to a 34-14 lead by the end of the first quarter. The 68-33 score late in the second quarter looked like a typographical error. The Thunder opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run, but the Timberwolves called a timeout and then answered with a 23-4 burst to put the game away. One of the ways that the Thunder dominate teams is by forcing more turnovers than they commit, and then transforming many of those turnovers into fast break points, but in this game the Timberwolves committed just 10 turnovers leading to 15 points while forcing 14 turnovers resulting in 16 points. 

Anthony Edwards scored a game-high 30 points in just under 30 minutes while also leading both teams in rebounding (nine) and assists (six). Julius Randle bounced back from an awful game two, scoring 24 points on 9-15 field goal shooting. Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 15 points off of the bench in just 13 minutes; it is safe to assume that he did not receive much attention in the Thunder's scouting report, but he had nine of his points in the second quarter to help the Timberwolves blow the game open.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA's regular season MVP and scoring champion, led the Thunder with just 14 points and a game-high tying six assists. Ajay Mitchell scored all 14 of his points in fourth quarter garbage time minutes. Jalen Williams had 13 points.

ESPN's Mike Breen correctly noted that the team that eventually wins the NBA championship sometimes has a blowout loss during their title run, and he said that in the moment that the blowout loss happens it is "shocking." One example that I remember from my childhood is the dominant 1982 L.A. Lakers who went 12-2 in the playoffs, including a 9-0 start after winning their final three regular season games. The Lakers did not lose a game from April 13-May 30 before Julius Erving's Philadelphia 76ers beat them 110-94 in game two of the NBA Finals; after the Lakers defeated the 76ers by 21 and 10 in the next two games they got blasted 135-102 before capturing the title with a 114-104 game six win as Magic Johnson logged a 13-13-13 triple double to win his second NBA Finals MVP in the first three seasons of his career. Losing a blowout does not guarantee winning a championship, of course; the point is that a blowout loss is not necessarily a sign that a team cannot or will not win a championship.

This game is a great reminder of how difficult it is for even a dominant team to sweep a best of seven playoff series, and it brought to mind the question of how often some of the greatest players of all-time won in sweeps (and how often they were swept). I looked up the playoff records of four members of my basketball Pantheon, choosing a dominant player who started his career in the 1970s (Julius Erving), the 1980s (Michael Jordan), the 1990s (Kobe Bryant), and the 2000s (LeBron James).

Julius Erving posted a 24-13 career playoff series record while winning three championships. He logged six sweeps in best of seven series (including the 1983 NBA Finals, the first NBA Finals sweep since 1975), and his teams were never swept (he had four 2-0 sweeps and was never swept 2-0). Michael Jordan had a 30-7 career playoff series record while winning six championships. He had three sweeps in best of seven series and was never swept in a best of seven series (he had six 3-0 sweeps and lost 3-0 twice). Kobe Bryant had a 33-10 career playoff series record while winning five championships. Bryant had five sweeps in best of seven series and he was swept three times in best of seven series (he also had two 3-0 sweeps and was never swept 3-0). LeBron James has a 41-14 career playoff series record while winning four championships. James has 12 sweeps in best of seven series and he was swept three times in best of seven series, including twice in the NBA Finals.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is just a babe in the NBA playoff woods. He has a 3-3 career playoff series record, including two sweeps in best of seven series; he has never been swept, and his teams have won at least two games in all seven of his playoff series (including the 2025 Western Conference Finals, with his Thunder currently leading 2-1). It will be interesting to watch those numbers over the next decade or so. Anthony Edwards has a 3-4 career playoff series record with one sweep and no times being swept. We will find out soon enough if Edwards' Timberwolves will make this a competitive series by winning game four, or if they will be content to avoid being swept.