That was a serious Game 3 beatdown… which in essence was an elimination game for the Minnesota Timberwolves. I’m not shocked they won, but I’m semi-aghast at how good the Twolves looked or how bad the Thunder got whipped in every facet of the game.
For those of us who aren’t novice level NBA followers, like most of the Thunder fanbase…it’s not all that complex if you follow the right Thunder blog and don’t allow yourself to be homered to death by the Little Nick Gallos, the Michael Cages, and the Royce Youngs of the Thunder homer mill. I’m not on anybody’s payroll. I do this this because I have a genuine passion for NBA basketball as a whole, and not just for the Thunder.
I’ve always kept my promise in that regard… I blog the objective NBA basketball truth on this blog. I at times may shamelessly troll you a bit if you act stupid enough to deserve such treatment, but in the end…I’ll write the truth on the Underground.
This was only one game. A home game. But here’s the thing neither team in this series has yet to lose a home game. Heading into Game 4 in Minnesota on Monday night in my mind if the Wolves take care of business…this series is basically up for grabs hypothetically speaking.
The pressure is still clearly on the TWolves backs for Game 4, but if they win then all the pressure shifts to the Thunder in what would be a pivotal Game 5. OKC would at that point want no part of their own Game 6 elimination game in Minny.
How did this monmental shift take place on Saturday night?
1 For one thing…the Wolves only turned the ball over 10 times in this game and only had two live ball turnovers in the first half. OKC lives on live ball turnovers. It is the gas which fuels their Nolan Richardson super-turbo engine. They thrive on odd man rushes like a hockey team. If you take this aspect of their game away from them and make them straight up beat you with the three-ball…they’re beatable by teams who are defensively solid.
2 Shai only had four free throw attempts in this road game. That’s 10 less free throws just by Shai than he averaged in the first two Thunder wins. For the most part..I love the other parts of Shai’s game, but all the faking, flopping, and falling to get to the free-line diminishes his reputation. Every other fanbase is going to start doing what the TWolve fans did on Saturday night and start chanting ‘Free Throw Merchant’. when he’s on the line.
Shai…please take this advice from MJ….enough of the faking, flopping and falling to get to the line. Michael and Kobe never faked to this degree. If you keep it up…you’re going to look in the mirror one day and see James Harden looking back at you. Take that as you may.
3 Minnesota lit it up hitting the open threes which Coach Finch alluded to in the first two games- postgame pressers. The looks for the most part have been open in this series, difference in this game was the Wolves were a blistering hot 20-40 beyond the arc, while the Thunder were a pedestrian 14-44.
4 The rookie from Illinois…Mr. Shannon’s 15 points were a spark off of a TWolves’ bench which scored an unthinkable 66 bench points in this game. Think back to Denver’s bench production the round previous. Nikola would be in disbelief of such bench support.
5 Both Julius Randle and the human basketball slug Rudy Gobert were much better in this game after being bench in the second half of Game 2. Julius is not a slug, but the way he played in Game 3 is the way he needs to play the remainder of the series for Minny.
6 The angry Minnesota crowd was what you want from your fans. They were clearly angry with all the preferrential treatment Shai received in the first two games in OKC.
Let’s not overthink this though. Playoff basketball is not getting too high or too low. It’s adjusting on the fly and emotionally reacting to a wide range of human competitve emotions.
One last thing…Shai was a -36 in this game, while AE was +3 ….
7 Your star has to play like Batman…not Batgirl–and your team can’t can’t get outboarded 51-32. Just sayin’
MJ is ready for Game 4 and congrats to Patti Gasso’s Sooners for their 9th straight advance to the College World Series.
Mike J