Five takeaways from Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals

2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took care of business early

After a blowout loss in Game 3 and a close Game 4 win that went down to the wire, the MVP didn't wait to impose his will on Game 5. Gilgeous-Alexander started the game by assisting on the Thunder's first three baskets, two of them dunks, then shooting 5-of-7 himself to finish the quarter with 12 points, three rebounds and five assists. Between his scoring and passing, SGA accounted for 24 first-quarter points, while the Timberwolves as a team scored nine.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 34 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, plus two steals. He shot 14-of-25 (56 percent) and made two three-pointers, and did so while sitting for all but three minutes of the fourth quarter. When he had 20 points at halftime while playing excellent defense, the Thunder had a 33-point lead, and the game was effectively over.

3. Turnovers crushed the Timberwolves, but they crush every Thunder opponent

Minnesota turned the ball over 21 times in Game 5, one game after turning the ball over 23 times in Game 4. For the series, they committed 87 turnovers in five games, a rate of 17.4 per game.

As much as the Timberwolves might bemoan their inability to protect the basketball, that's also simply what the Thunder do. In the second round, the Nuggets committed 17.7 turnovers per game. In the first round, the Memphis Grizzlies turned the ball over 77 times in four games, a rate of 19.3 per game. During the regular season, the Thunder forced 17 turnovers per game, while committing the fewest with 11.7.

That could become interesting if the Thunder go on to meet the Indiana Pacers, who are up 3-1 on the New York Knicks, in the NBA Finals. Indiana committed the third-fewest turnovers in the NBA this season.

4. Minnesota and Julius Randle might rethink their offseason plans

It's probably more important that Julius Randle helped the Timberwolves reach the Western Conference Finals than how he performed in them, but he was mostly ineffective against the Thunder. He scored 24 points in Game 5 and made four threes, but ended up a -28 in 31 minutes. Randle's offensive game was feast-or-famine, averaging 25.3 points in three games and scoring five and six points in two others.

Randle has a player option for nearly $31M for 2025-26, and while the Timberwolves were happy with their three-time All-Star this season, he had four games with four or more turnovers against the Thunder. When his three-point shot was falling, Randle was OK, but he had a lot of trouble with double- and triple-teams from the Thunder. If they're the team the Timberwolves have to get past in the Western Conference, he might not be the best second star for Minnesota to commit to, either for one season or the long term.

5. Anthony Edwards isn't ready to be the face of the NBA yet

Anthony Edwards made the All-NBA second team this season and is an emerging star, but the Thunder stymied him in this series. He averaged 23 points, but shot 47.1 percent overall and 28.2 percent from three-point range. Edwards increased his assists over his season average but went ice-cold from three-point range.

Against the Thunder's pressure, he didn't get to the basket enough against their interior defense and settled for bad threes. He also seemed to let his offensive struggles impact his effort and effectiveness on defense. What's the solution? Perhaps Edwards can develop more of a mid-range and floater game to deal with playoff shot blockers. Or perhaps he needs a better outlet for when he's forced to pass out of double-teams.

But in his second straight disappointing Western Conference Finals, Edwards simply didn't show enough for him to truly be anointed the future of the NBA, especially when the present of the NBA figures to be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the foreseeable future.