The biggest takeaway from Timberwolves' Game 1 loss

The Minnesota Timberwolves averaged a league-best 51.6 points in the paint in the playoffs ahead of the Western Conference Finals. Furthermore, they held teams to the second-fewest 39.6 points in the paint. 

Chris Finch's men had developed a dominant interior presence, which was on full display when they scored 72 paint points against the Warriors in the series-clinching Game 5 last week.  

All that changed when they ran into the Thunder in Tuesday's Game 1. Minnesota managed only 20 paint points, tying the fewest by any team this postseason. On the other end, they allowed the Thunder to score a whopping 54 points in the interior. 

Nobody foresaw OKC outscoring (54-20) and outrebounding (46-42) Minnesota in the paint, but the outcome was by design. Mark Daigneault revealed his team's Game 1 strategy was to pack the paint and force the Timberwolves to beat them from the perimeter. 

Forcing them into threes

The Timberwolves took the bait, jacking up an uncharacteristic 51 threes in the game, of which they made only 15. Conversely, the Thunder went the traditional route of getting to the midrange and finding the low man for easy buckets while attempting only 21 threes.

Remarkably, Thunder dominated in the interior while playing Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein for less than eight minutes together. Instead, they gave the smaller Kenrich Williams, Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins extended minutes in the frontcourt, a strategy that seemed to bamboozle the Timberwolves.

After the loss, Anthony Edwards admitted that he faced severe challenges trying to get to the rim. 

"I mean, they clogged the paint," Edwards said, via ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "That's what they do. They don't got much size down there, so they bank on us not making shots, I guess. Because every time I go to the rim it's like four people in the paint."

OKC's swarming interior defense also forced Julius Randle, who typically gets to the rim comfortably, to rely on jump shots. Randle hoisted six threes and rarely got to his desired spots on the floor. Rudy Gobert became nearly unplayable, managing just two points and three rebounds in 21 minutes.

If the Timberwolves can't find a way to nullify the Thunder's paint advantage in Game 2, this series could be over quickly.