OKC Thunder Crush Timberwolves in Game 1

On Tuesday evening, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves will face off in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

Oklahoma City narrowly escaped Denver in the previous series, ousting reigning MVP Nikola Jokic and co. in a crucial seventh game on Sunday. Minnesota was able to cruise by a Steph Curry-less Warriors squad, and has been patiently waiting for their opportunity for some time now.

All eyes will be on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and the rest of the Thunder as they look to get off to a hot start in the WCF.

Here is the live-thread for the game:

First Quarter: Timberwolves 23, Thunder 20

Minnesota got out to a hot start via Jaden McDaniels, who hit two pure shots as the Thunder went under screens. One Anthony Edwards three later, and the Timberwolves would hold an 8-0 lead.

Oklahoma City would climb back into the game with aggression and physicality, getting to the free throw line and using stingy defense to generate steals. Minnesota continued its hot streak from beyond the arc, though, keeping a 16-11 lead.

OKC continued to grind back into it, turning defense to offense, with the Wolves still nailing the occasional triple. The score stands at 19-17, Minnesota, with three minutes remaining in the frame.

Minnesota continued to keep OKC at bay with offensive rebounding to end the quarter.

Halftime: Timberwolves 48, Thunder 44

The second frame started out just as gritty as the first, with the teams trading murky offense possessions and elite defense. With OKC collapsing the paint, the Wolves continued to hit threes, to gain the 33-29 edge.

Julius Randle would continue to help the Wolves widen the gap on Oklahoma City, setting a new career-high of five postseason 3-pointers made, all in the first half. He leads all scorers with 18 points, though a Cason Wallace triple would make it just a four-point ballgame.

The Thunder defense would help to close the halftime gap some, but Minnesota offense came easier and more often, with the Wolves owning a four-point advantage at the break.

Third Quarter: Thunder 76, Timberwolves 66

Oklahoma City got right back into the game off a quick scoring burst from Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, and the teams would trade buckets back-and-forth from there mid-way through the third.

With five minutes remaining in the third frame, Jalen Williams would find two jumpers, and Gilgeous-Alexander one, as the Thunder again ripped back a two-point lead. OKC has found more comfortability in the third, but offense has still been hard to come by as a whole.

Kenrich Williams gave the Thunder a surge of live, playing ferocious defense on Minnesota's bigger players, along with scoring five-straight points to make it a nine-point OKC lead.

Oklahoma City outscored the Wolves 32-18 in the third frame with a two-way effort led by Kenrich Williams.

Final: Thunder 114, Timberwolves 88

With Holmgren two-way dominance and timely buckets from the Thunder's MVP, Oklahoma City has continued to widen its lead in the final frame, up 14 with exactly seven minutes to play.

With Gilgeous-Alexander at the helm, the home squad has kept their foot on the gas, most recently going up 15 points on a Luguentz Dort 3-pointer.

The Thunder train wouldn't slow down in the final minutes of the game, with Alex Caruso's 3-pointer pushing the lead all the way to 18 with time slipping.