Oklahoma City Thunder vs Minnesota Timberwolves Picks and Predictions May 28th 2025

Thunder One Win Away From NBA Finals Return

The Oklahoma City Thunder are one win away from securing their first NBA Finals appearance since 2012. With a 3-1 series lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City will try to close out the Western Conference finals at home on Wednesday night.

Despite the proximity to the Finals, Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander emphasized the importance of staying grounded.

“It’s tough. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “You know how close you are, but yet it’s still so far away. To beat a team like this, it takes a lot of hard minutes doing the right thing a lot of the time.”

Head coach Mark Daigneault echoed that sentiment, noting the team’s consistent effort to remain present rather than dwelling on past results or potential futures.

“It’s easy to slip into the past or slip into the future, but we’ve tried to do a good job of grounding into the moment and just handling the next challenge in front of us,” Daigneault said.

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Thunder Trio Leading the Charge

In a critical Game 4 bounce-back performance, Oklahoma City’s core of Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren combined for 95 points to edge Minnesota 128-126 in Minneapolis.

Their strong showing came just two days after suffering a 42-point loss in Game 3, a low point that reinforced the importance of focus and resilience.

“We still have so much room to grow, which is the scary part,” Gilgeous-Alexander added, suggesting the Thunder’s ceiling is still far from reached.

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Timberwolves Face First Elimination Test

This is unfamiliar territory for the Timberwolves, who are facing elimination for the first time this postseason. They had previously dispatched both of their playoff opponents in five games.

To avoid elimination, Minnesota will need far more production from Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. The duo managed just 21 points on 6-of-20 shooting in Game 4 after erupting for 54 combined points in Game 3.

“We’ve faced this and gone through these periods before,” head coach Chris Finch said. “We know we’ve got to stretch the floor, create more depth in transition, get those guys to the bottom of the floor for a variety of reasons. Should be a pretty easy adjustment, you’ve just got to put the effort in.”

Adjustments Needed for Minnesota

Finch was encouraged by Edwards’ second-half aggressiveness in Game 4 and noted the need to incorporate more off-ball movement and transition opportunities.

“We got downhill, he got to the paint, he created a lot of good shots for his teammates,” Finch said. “There are some things that maybe he can have in transition that we didn’t necessarily find for him. Moving him off ball, some more off-ball stuff, things that we’ve done earlier in the series that last night we didn’t really get to.”

Minnesota will need to find answers quickly to keep their postseason hopes alive.

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