Minnesota Timberwolves 106, Thunder 103: Instant reaction 2/05

The Minnesota Timberwolves escaped with the win after a hard-fought battle in their first game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in a back-to-back.

The Thunder, without Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander, only had eight players that entered the game tonight. Other than Al Horford, most people wouldn’t recognize most of the players that received minutes for OKC tonight: Darius Bazley, Isaiah Roby, Kenrich Williams, Hamidou Diallo, Darius Miller, Justin Jackson, and Mike Muscala.

Despite their best efforts to blow the lead, Minnesota hung on in the final minute to win their first game since beating Cleveland earlier this week.

The top performer tonight, as usual, was Malik Beasley, who scored 24 points on 9-19 shooting – with 6-12 from three, five rebounds, and three assists. D’Angelo Russell also performed well, scoring 21 points on 13 shots, including the game-winner with less than three seconds left.

The Wolves as a team hit 40-percent of their 3-point attempts, although getting to the free throw line continues to be a problem. Minnesota only had eight makes from the line tonight.

Another takeaway, despite the win, would be Ryan Saunders’ underperformance as a coach this season. The offense has been continually stagnant with very little off-ball movement. Saunders has rarely adjusted his rotations to maximize each player’s skill set, and it almost cost Minnesota the game tonight.

The Timberwolves were given a lay-up game against a shorthanded Oklahoma City team, and in all honesty, deserved to lose the game after turning the ball over (on an inbound!!!!) with less than 30-seconds left in a tie game.

The Timberwolves have a chance to prove that tonight was not a fluke, once again playing against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Karl-Anthony Towns is unlikely to play, but should be back in the lineup soon.

We have you covered for pregame and postgame coverage – be sure to check in tomorrow.