Minnesota Timberwolves @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Monday, January 29, 2024 at 8:00 PM ET
Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK | Game ID: 22300664
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
OKC 28 19 30 24 101MIN 29 20 24 34 107
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Edwards scores 27 as Timberwolves top Thunder 107-101 in a matchup of Western Conference leaders
OKLAHOMA CITY -- — Anthony Edwards scored 27 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 107-101 on Monday in a matchup of teams that entered the night tied atop the Western Conference standings.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault called this one an “elevated game” for its intensity. There were 24 lead changes and six ties.
“I think it was a great game,” Edwards said. “Great effort by both teams. Great job by both coaches. I feel like we just made more plays down the stretch.”
Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Rudy Gobert added 12 points and 17 rebounds for Minnesota, which had lost three of five.
Edwards did his damage on 10-for-20 shooting.
“Anthony did a really good job with picking his spots, trusting his teammates, playing clean and quick, getting downhill, putting the pressure on them," Minnesota coach Chris Finch said.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 points and Jalen Williams added 20 for the Thunder, who lost their second straight after a five-game win streak.
The teams split four meetings this season.
“It’s why we play the game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “You play to play the best teams in the league. You wake up for games like that. You really get to test yourself and see where you are. It was a dogfight tonight.”
Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren , one of the NBA's top rookies, finished with just four points on 2-for-9 shooting in 32 minutes.
“We did a good job of defending him and just made him take tough shots, and I could see it for him, you know, he was trying to get his teammates open, so he was just playing team basketball," Towns said.
The Thunder led 97-96 with 2:43 remaining before Minnesota took control. A two-handed dunk by Edwards down the middle of the lane in traffic put the Timberwolves up 101-97, and Minnesota led by at least four the rest of the way.
The Timberwolves won despite point guard Mike Conley sitting out his second straight game with a sore left hamstring.
“We really did a good job of finishing this game, which we haven’t been doing," Finch said. "So hopefully it’s a good step and we can build on that part of it.”
Minnesota led 49-47 at halftime behind 13 points apiece from Edwards and Towns.
Edwards hit a 3-pointer two minutes into the second half to put the Timberwolves up 56-47.
The Thunder rallied, and a dunk by Williams gave them a 63-62 edge midway through the third quarter. Williams' 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left in the third put Oklahoma City up 77-73. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 points in the period.
In the end, the young Thunder, with many players still adjusting to the length of the season, struggled on the second night of a back-to-back and their third game in four days.
“It’s hard just getting adjusted to," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "Now, with that being said, the NBA doesn’t care. Your opponents don’t care. Nobody cares. You’ve got to fight through it and get it done.”
UP NEXT
Timberwolves: Host the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.
Thunder: Host the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
MINAE A. Edwards
JM J. McDaniels
JM J. McLaughlin
KA K. Anderson
KT K. Towns
NA N. Alexander-Walker
NR N. Reid
RG R. Gobert
TB T. Brown Jr.
OKCAW A. Wiggins
CH C. Holmgren
CW C. Wallace
IJ I. Joe
JG J. Giddey
JW J. Williams
JW Jal. Williams
JW Jay. Williams
KW K. Williams
LD L. Dort
SG S. Gilgeous-Alexander
VM V. Micić
MIN/OKC the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur