On January 6, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Timberwolves defeated the Thunder 98-90 at home. The Timberwolves won two straight games, with Anthony Edwards scoring 22 points, five rebounds and five steals; the Thunder suffered two straight losses, with Josh Gidey, the 6th pick and "youngest triple-double" in 2021, with 14 points, 15 rebounds and six assists. This Saturday, the two teams will meet for their second meeting of the season at Oklahoma City.
Downs sealed Earl
Match stats: Five from both teams scored in double figures
The Timberwolves scored in double figures, with the exception of Edwards, Carl Anthony Towns had 17 points and 16 rebounds, Patrick Beverley contributed 20 points and six assists, Jaden McDaniels had 11 points, Jaylen Nowell contributed 16 points, D'Angelo Russell had just six points on 3-of-12 shooting, and Jared Vanderbilt grabbed 13 rebounds.
The Thunder five scored in double figures, with the exception of Gidy, Shay Gilgers Alexander had 19 points and five assists, Kenridge Williams had 10 points, nine rebounds and four steals, Aaron Wiggins contributed 11 points and Darius Beziley had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Game Recap: The Timberwolves refused to reverse
The two teams were evenly matched in the opening stage, but after a 4-4 draw, the Thunder's offense suddenly muted, and in more than 4 minutes, they did not score a point. The Timberwolves unleashed a 14-0 offensive surge that pulled the score to 18-4. Alexander then used free throws to break the scoring drought for the Thunder, but the Timberwolves' offense did not diminish, and with 1 minute and 26 seconds left in the first quarter, Jaylen Noel hit a three-pointer, and they completed a 10-2 offensive wave to extend the score to 30-10. Both teams then failed to score, with the Timberwolves leading by 20 points at 30-10 after the first quarter, the Thunder making 10 turnovers in the quarter and shooting just 18.8 percent from 3-of-16 shooting.
Less than a minute and a half into the second quarter, the Thunder not only shot 0-of-2, but also made two more turnovers, at which point they made more mistakes than they scored in the game. However, the Timberwolves did not keep the offensive firepower, they only relied on a free throw in the first three minutes of the quarter to score 1 point, and the Thunder gradually found the feeling of the game, with 4 minutes and 14 seconds left in the quarter, Wiggins quickly attacked the basket and they stubbornly chased the score to 31-39. The point difference on the court has remained around 10 points since then, and with Beverly's three-point shot with 41.1 seconds left in the quarter, the Timberwolves entered the halftime with a 49-36 lead.
The Timberwolves hit two three-pointers at the start of the third quarter, and with 5:17 left in the quarter, Vanderbilt received a pass from Russell and a dunk, and they once again pulled the lead to 63-44. But the Thunder did not panic, Wiggins attacked under the basket, Alexander scored six points in a row, and then Williams made a layup, and they responded with a 10-0 offensive wave, tenaciously chasing the score to 56-65. In the final minute of the quarter, the Thunder played another 5-0 small climax and chased the score to 63-69 at the end of the quarter. Alexander scored 11 points in this section.
With 5:27 left in the game, Williams made a layup and the Thunder chased the score to 81-82, while also bringing the game into a white-hot stage. The Timberwolves' defensive credit at key moments, first Beverley stealing Alexander, then Downs blocking Gidy, and then they blocked the Thunder's multiple offenses, with 2 minutes and 26 seconds left in the game, Beverley hit a mid-range shot, and the Timberwolves pulled the score away again at 92-83. Muscala then scored four points on Downs, but with 1:02 left in the game, Edwards hit a three-pointer and the Timberwolves still led by eight points at 97-89, while also declaring the game lost suspense.
The starting lineup of both sides of this game -
Timberwolves: Beverly, Russell, Edwards, Vanderbilt, Downs
Thunder: Alexander, Gidey, Wiggins, Earl, Pokushevsky
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