It was the final game this season for the home fans at Target Center, Minneapolis. The Minnesota Timberwolves hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night in a game that meant little to both teams. The Thunder have already sealed their sixth playoff spot in the Western Conference while the Wolves will not participate in this year's postseason. 19 thousand fans at Target Center were disappointed not to see OKC's superstar Russell Westbrook perform as he did not play in this game due to rest. Taj Gibson and Andre Roberson also sat out of this one as OKC prepares for their first round matchup against the Houston Rockets.
Big first quarter for the Thunder
Even though they were shorthanded in this one, the Thunder came out and put on a show in the first quarter. They went on a 19-2 run and outscored the Timberwolves 33-16 in that first period. OKC didn't settle and increased their lead as they finished the first half with a big 56-43 lead. The Timberwolves were held to just 36.6% shooting in that first half as they were dominated on both ends of the floor. The third quarter saw the home team make a big run and they completely came back in this game. It was 72-71 for the home team after three-quarters of play. Teams went back and fourth in the last quarter fighting for this win. With the score tied at 98-98 with 6.3 seconds left in the game, it was Victor Oladipo who hit a big shot.
He drained a mid-range jumper to give the Thunder 100-98 lead that ended up being the final score.
Great team win for OKC
Considering that they were playing without their three starters (Westbrook, Gibson, and Roberson) this was an impressive team win for the Thunder. They outrebounded the Timberwolves by a wide margin 54-35 and held them to just 25% shooting from the three-point land.
Oklahoma finished the game with six players scoring at least 10 points. Victor Oladipo was the leader on Tuesday night as he finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Rookie forward Domantas Sabonis contributed with 19 points and nine rebounds, Steven Adams added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Thunder will play their final home game of the regular season on Wednesday against the Denver Nuggets.
OKC will face the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
For the Timberwolves it was Karl-Anthony Towns who led them in scoring again. He finished the game with 26 points and 12 rebounds. With this 26 points Towns surpassed Kevin Love for most points in a single season in franchise history. Andrew Wiggins helped with 18 points and four assists while Ricky Rubio added 14 points and ten assists.
The Timberwolves have not qualified for this season's playoffs.
