Julius Randle's play against the Thunder remains a red flag for Wolves' title chances

Overall, Julius Randle is having one of the best seasons of his career thus far, impressive coming from someone who is a three-time All-Star. It hasn’t been a great past three games, though, for him or Minnesota. Randle's turnovers toward the end of their meltdowns against the Suns and Kings were partly why the Timberwolves blew those games.

On Wednesday against the one-loss Thunder, Randle couldn’t buy a bucket in what turned out to be a close loss for the Timberwolves. It’s similar to some of his playoff games against OKC last season, where Randle struggled to score.

For the Timberwolves to make another deep playoff run, they'll need more consistent production from Randle. To accomplish their ultimate goal of a championship run, they'll likely have to beat the Thunder, which can't be done if Randle plays like this.

Three games to forget for Julius Randle

A win over the Thunder could have helped allow fans to forget the heartbreaking losses to Sacramento and Phoenix. Instead, they fell to 0-7 against winning teams this season in their 113-105 loss. 

It wasn’t Julius Randle’s finest offensive performance in the defeat. Three days away from his 31st birthday, the 6-foot-9 forward shot just 2-13 from the field (both makes coming from 3-point territory) and 4-7 from the foul line. 

Minnesota entered the fourth quarter down seven. After starting the final stanza resting, Randle checked in exactly halfway through the period with the Timberwolves down just two. He took just one shot, a missed 3-pointer with 1:19 remaining, after returning to action.

Randle also finished the Thunder game with four assists and three turnovers. Over the last three contests, he has more turnovers (13) than assists (11).

Not first time he has struggled against dominant Thunder

Last season, Randle was able to mostly shake off the narrative that he can’t perform well in the postseason. He was a large reason that the Timberwolves were able to reach the conference finals in his first year with the team.

Of course, Minnesota played that same Thunder team they lost to on Wednesday in last season’s conference finals. In two of the last five games of that series, Randle made no more than two field goals. After Friday, it’s now three of his last six outings against OKC.

In the conference finals, Randle averaged 17.6 points, 3.6 turnovers, and 3.0 assists.

To beat a juggernaut like the Thunder, the Timberwolves need their second-best scorer to find a way to put the ball in the basket more frequently. As a team, they also need him to shake off this 3-game rut he has been in. The next opportunity for Randle to do so comes Saturday on the road against the Celtics.

However, the bigger picture is that Randle needs to play better against teams like the Thunder if they are going to make a finals leap.