Game 1 of the Western Conference finals matchup between the No. 6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves and No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder will tipoff on Tuesday night.
Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves reached their second consecutive conference finals following series wins over the No. 3 seed Los Angeles Lakers and No. 7 seed Golden State Warriors.
Presumed NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder reached this point after series wins over the No. 8 seed Memphis Grizzlies and No. 4 seed Denver Nuggets.
Game 1 will take place at Oklahoma City's Paycom Center, which is widely viewed as one of the NBA's loudest home-court atmospheres. With that being said, the Thunder are viewed as heavy favorites in this series-opening contest.
ESPN's predictive computer model gives the Thunder a 69.7% chance to claim victory over the Timberwolves on Tuesday night. Additionally, ESPN Bet favors the home-team No. 1 seed by 7.5 points.
Gilgeous-Alexander was excellent in the Thunder's seven-game series win over the Nuggets, averaging 29.7 points, 6.6 assists and 6.4 rebounds per game. Now, the MVP favorite turns his attention toward the Timberwolves.
"We play a really good team in the Timberwolves, and we gotta try to beat them four times before they beat us four times, and that's all I'm worried about, all our team is worried about," Gilgeous-Alexander said.
The Thunder and Timberwolves faced off on four occasions during the regular season, splitting the series 2-2.
Game 1 of the Western Conference finals will tipoff at 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
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