Short-handed Wolves give West-leading Thunder a battle but come up just short

The Minnesota Timberwolves showed plenty of fight, but they faced just a bit too much just a bit too short-handed.

The Wolves couldn't replicate their last stunning upset performance against the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, falling 130-123 Sunday night at Target Center in Minneapolis in the first of back-to-back games against Oklahoma City.

Minneapolis native Chet Holmgren hit a go-ahead 3-pointer for the Thunder (46-10) with 6 minutes, 33 seconds remaining and they never trailed from there. The Timberwolves (31-27) had two shots blocked the next possession, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a 3 a couple possessions later, then Alex Caruso hit a 3 and Jalen Williams added another from long range.

Suddenly, a two-point Wolves lead turned into an 11-point deficit Minnesota was unable to overcome.

"They were able to kind of square loose and knock some 3s down," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 37 points. Holmgren added 19 points, 10 of which game in the first quarter.

Jaylen Clark, who was making his second career start, was putting together arguably his best performance of the season until a scary fall took him out of the game in the third quarter. Clark built on his impressive performance defending Gilgeous-Alexander from their last matchup, keeping him cold early and forcing Oklahoma City into a number of turnovers. But Clark smacked his head on the floor in the third quarter, exited to the locker room and was later ruled out.

Clark finished his night with 14 points, four steals and a rebound, and he had a plus-minus of plus-20 in 18 minutes. His presence was clearly missed after exiting as the Thunder outscored the Wolves by 14 points the remainder of the third.

"We missed his tenacity out there, his shot-making," Finch said.

The Wolves did rally to retake the lead in the fourth quarter, but the shots didn't fall and they just ran out of gas.

Clark was in the starting lineup with Donte DiVincenzo (toe), Julius Randle (groin) and Rudy Gobert (back) all still out due to injury. He got the nod Sunday night over Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who played a critical role in the comeback effort, hitting key 3s in the fourth quarter. Alexander-Walker finished with 18 points, two rebounds and two assists off the bench.

Anthony Edwards nearly had a triple-double, leading the Wolves with 29 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. But he also picked up a technical foul in the first half, his league-leading 14th of the season. Edwards is now two technical fouls away from a one-game suspension as any player who receives 16 in a single season is issued an automatic suspension.

The Wolves trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half, but they closed the half on a 23-7 run to take a 63-61 lead into the halftime break. That momentum kept rolling until Clark's third-quarter fall, and the Wolves eventually sputtered late.

Naz Reid was a force in the post and often drew doubles that he was able to navigate masterfully. Reid finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Jaden McDaniels tallied 17 points, 13 rebounds and an assist.

The two teams meet again Monday night in Oklahoma City for a 7 p.m. tipoff.

"I know I was built for (the back to back)," Reid said. "I know a lot of guys in here are built for it, so I think it's not something we got to overreact about. We gonna go out there and compete. That's just who we are, we're not going to just roll over."

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