Oklahoma City Thunder still playing like champs, get first shot at Minnesota Timberwolves since play-offs

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Thunder have not displayed any signs of a championship hangover through the first month of the season.

They enter Wednesday’s home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, an NBA Cup matchup, on a nine-game winning streak and with an NBA-best 17-1 record.

“We don’t have anybody on the team who’s sitting and reminiscing on what a great career they had,” Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren said. “I think everybody on the team is still chasing and striving for more. The championship wasn’t the last check on their bucket list.”

The Thunder have started out hot despite being without injured All-Star Jalen Williams (wrist surgery) so far this season and playing without Aaron Wiggins (adductor strain) for the entirety of their current winning streak.

During the run, Oklahoma City have won by an average of 22.3 points and none of the games have been decided by fewer than 13 points.

The margin has given Thunder coach Mark Daigneault some room to tinker with his rotations and put players in different roles.

“You only get so many game minutes, and those are huge developmental minutes for the guys that get to play – and not just the guys that weren’t in the rotation that night but allowing some rotation players to play different roles,” he said.

“We’ve used Cason (Wallace) and Ajay (Mitchell) in that way so far this season. We really try to maximize every minute of the game, regardless of the circumstances, and when the score is where it is, we try to take full advantage of that in every way that we can.”

In the other camp, since winning six of seven, the Timberwolves have dropped back-to-back games following late collapses.

Minnesota led by eight with less than a minute remaining before falling 114-113 on Friday in Phoenix. They were up 10 with three minutes left in regulation before losing 117-112 in overtime on Monday at Sacramento.

“We’re struggling right now to find a good rhythm offensively all around,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said.

“We gotta get back to the way we were playing about a week ago when it comes to offense. A lot of things we were doing then, we’re missing now.”

Playing against Oklahoma City does not figure to be the way to find an offensive rhythm.

The Thunder lead the league by a wide margin with a 102.8 defensive rating – points allowed per 100 possessions.

Oklahoma City are forcing 18.4 turnovers per game, scoring 25.1 points per game off those turnovers, allowing just 12.4 second-chance points per game while allowing just 38.3 points in the paint per game – all numbers that are best in the league.

Wednesday’s game is part of NBA Cup West Group A play.

The Thunder are 2-0 in the tournament, tied with the Suns entering Monday’s game, while the Timberwolves are 2-1.

The game is the first meeting between the teams since Oklahoma City eliminated Minnesota in five games in last season’s Western Conference Final. It is also the first of four meetings between the teams this season.

Timberwolves reserve guard Terrence Shannon Jr. returned for Monday’s game after missing nine consecutive games with a bone bruise in his foot.

Meanwhile in NBA action on Tuesday, Luka Doncic scored 24 of his 43 points in the first quarter and finished with 13 assists and nine rebounds as the host Los Angeles Lakers notched a 135-118 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers to clinch West Group B of the NBA Cup.

Austin Reaves scored 18 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and collected nine rebounds for the Lakers, who won their fifth consecutive game. LeBron James added 25 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Rui Hachimura had 13 points.

Anthony Black scored a career-high 31 points to highlight the Orlando Magic’s 144-103 annihilation of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Washington’s C.J. McCollum scored a season-high 46 points and the NBA-worst Wizards snapped a 14-game losing streak by routing the Atlanta Hawks 132-113. REUTERS, AFP