The Minnesota Timberwolves are now one loss away from elimination after a 128-126 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night.
Head coach Chris Finch expressed clear frustration with his team’s mistakes, particularly pointing to turnovers and second-chance points as deciding factors.
“You’re not going to beat a team like this if you’re certainly turning it over 20-plus times and letting them have a bunch of second-chance opportunities,” Finch said postgame. “And we knew that.”
Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams combined for 74 points, with Gilgeous-Alexander finishing just shy of a triple-double and sealing the game with two free throws in the final seconds.
Finch credited the Thunder’s late-game shot-making but emphasized that Minnesota’s inability to contain dribble penetration proved costly.
“They rose up and made shots over us,” he noted. “But we’ve got to do a better job of trying to contain that first dribble like we did in Game 3.”
Despite the narrow loss, the Timberwolves had standout performances off the bench.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker led Minnesota in scoring with 23 points, and Donte DiVincenzo added 21, each hitting five three-pointers.
“Yeah, he had a great night,” Finch said of Alexander-Walker. “He battled his tail off defensively. He’s really been playing well of late.”
Finch also praised DiVincenzo for his floor spacing and shot-making, noting that “those guys really did a good job of finding each other, moving the ball.”
Anthony Edwards struggled for rhythm early but turned up his aggression in the second half, ending with 16 points and six assists.
“I thought second half was more aggressive,” Finch said. “When he got to the paint, I thought he found some people, made the right plays.”
Julius Randle, however, had another subpar showing with five points on 1-of-7 shooting.
“Didn’t have a great night obviously,” Finch acknowledged. “Bench was really, really good, so I rolled with them.”
The Thunder punished Minnesota on the glass and from beyond the arc, shooting 43.2% from three while grabbing 19 offensive rebounds.
“They rebounded well out of their area,” Finch said. “Some of them were long and we weren’t able to get those, particularly later in the game.”
Although Finch highlighted a few positives—like Jaden McDaniels’ early aggression—he made it clear that the current approach is not sustainable.
“This isn’t the formula to get it done,” he said flatly. “That’s the most important thing to take away from tonight.”
With Game 5 set for Wednesday in Oklahoma City, the Timberwolves will face elimination in a hostile environment where the Thunder are 7–1 in the postseason.
