On Saturday, the Minnesota Timberwolves surprised the Oklahoma City Thunder and secured a 143-101 win in Game 3. They prevented the Thunder from going up 3-0 in the series with a win at Target Center. Wolves star Anthony Edwards led the way with his 30 points, nine rebounds and six assists. The star guard had a very efficient shooting night and made 70.6 percent of his shots.
The team also had a great production from Julius Randle. The All-Star forward had 24 points on a 60 percent shooting clip. The big man stayed aggressive on the offensive end.
More importantly, Minnesota’s defense did wonders, leading them to a victory. They prevented Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from getting consistent trips to the line and only had 14 points. The 2025 Most Valuable Player shot a lowly 30.8 percent from the field.
This propelled the Timberwolves to take advantage of SGA’s bad shooting night.
Despite getting the win, however, Edwards didn’t want to get ahead of himself. While the Wolves are back in the series with their win, the three-time All-Star doesn’t think it changes anything.
“No,” Edwards said. “We’re still down. It’s just one win. Can’t get too high on it. Don’t get too low. Just got to try to win another one, man. This team, they’re the best team in the NBA.
“So, we got to be able to beat this team more than one time, and it’s going to be tough.”
Through three games in the Western Conference finals, Edwards has scored at least 30 points in two games. He’s averaging 26.7 points, nine rebounds and five assists on 51.8 percent shooting from the field. Game 4 will be on Monday, as the Minnesota Timberwolves will try and protect their home court again.
Anthony Edwards encouraged his Minnesota Timberwolves co-star after their Game 2 loss
In Game 2 of the conference finals, the Thunder took control and had a 118-103 victory that eventually led to a 2-0 series lead. One thing that stood out was Julius Randle’s performance in the game. The 6-foot-9 forward finished with six points on a not-so-efficient 2-for-11 shooting from the field.
After their Game 3 win, the Minnesota Timberwoves star revealed to the media that Edwards talked to him after their loss in the previous game. According to Randle, his teammate’s message to him encouraged him to regain his confidence to step up in the next game.
“Shortly after that game, he knows I’m hot, like I’m upset. Not just because we lost, but I want to play well and I feel like I didn’t help my team out at all,” Randle said. “And he was the first one to see me and he was like ‘Bro, just shake back. You good. Don’t worry about it’.”
Through three games, Randle has averaged 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and three assists in his first conference finals appearance.
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