Timberwolves takeaways from Game 4: Oklahoma City holds on for 128-126 victory

The Timberwolves are a team that prides itself on defense, but it was their defense that ultimately let them down Monday night.

The Wolves lost to the Thunder 128-126 at Target Center, and Oklahoma City now leads the best-of-seven Western Conference finals 3-1.

The Wolves allowed Oklahoma City to crush them on the offensive glass for 24 second-chance points, while the Thunder hit clutch shot after clutch shot down the stretch.

The Wolves shot 51% for the night, 44% from three-point range, and that helped them overcome 23 turnovers, but the Thunder’s top three offensive threats feasted. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 40 points, Jalen Williams added 34 and Chet Holmgren scored 21.

Anthony Edwards had just 16 points on only 13 shot attempts (two in the first half) for the Wolves, while Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 23 points, Jaden McDaniels had 22 and Donte DiVincenzo added 21. Julius Randle scored only five points for the Wolves, who are on the verge of elimination Wednesday night in Game 5.

“It’s win or go home,” McDaniels said. “We have to come to play or our season is over.”

“Got to play tougher, and stronger, and hold them to one shot.”

The Wolves bench outscored their starters 64-62.

Oklahoma City shot 51% from the field.

The Wolves had the ball with 0.3 seconds to play down two, but Williams stole the inbounds pass to seal it.

BOXSCORE: Oklahoma City 128, Timberwolves 126

Wolves coach Chris Finch bemoaned the 23 turnovers the Wolves committed and the 19 offensive rebounds they gave up to the Thunder.

“You’re not going to beat a team like this if you’re turning it over 20-plus times and giving them a bunch of second opportunities,” Finch said. “And we knew that.”

When asked whether the team is staying focused on the series still being alive, Finch said, “100 percent, but this isn’t the formula to get it done. That’s the most important thing to take away from tonight.”

The start of the fourth quarter, when the Thunder opened 7-for-10 from the field to prevent the Wolves from overtaking them. The Thunder answered seemingly every Wolves bucket with one of their own, and they built a 109-100 lead with 6:20 to play.

The Wolves cut it to 111-109 with 4:34 left before the Thunder responded with five straight points. Oklahoma City opened the quarter 11-for-16.

The Wolves never had the ball with the game within one possession after that until Gilgeous-Alexander hit just one of two free throws with 8.8 seconds to play. The Thunder opted to foul the Wolves, and Naz Reid hit a pair to put them down 126-125 before Gilgeous-Alexander hit another pair with 6.1 seconds left.

Alex Caruso fouled Edwards with 3.5 seconds to play. Edwards intentionally missed the second of two free throws, but the Thunder got the rebound and threw the ball out of bounds before the Wolves’ last gasp.

The tone was intense from the start of game, and the officials let both teams have play with a lot of contact. They both began the night 7-for-13 before the first timeout at the 5:38 mark. McDaniels had 10 points for the Wolves, while Williams had eight for the Thunder.

Edwards did not take his first shot of the quarter until there were 35.1 seconds left. In the meantime, the Wolves committed seven turnovers in the quarter — four on four consecutive possessions — and the Thunder shot 56%.

Both Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander had 13 points in the quarter on a combined 10-for-14. The only saving grace for the Wolves was they shot 12-for-19 when they weren’t turning the ball over.

The Wolves gave up ground on the offensive glass and allowed the Thunder to score 11 second-chance points in the first half, and Edwards remained a non-shooting participant on offense with just two shot attempts in the first half.

Alexander-Walker picked up the scoring slack for the Wolves with a 4-for-5 first-half off the bench and 11 points, but the Wolves stayed behind in the first half on the margins. There was one possession in which the Thunder scored five points, after the Wolves failed to secure a free-throw rebound, and that resulted in a three for Kenrich Williams. That extended the Thunder’s lead to nine, their largest of the first half before they went into the locker room up 65-57.

Edwards was a little more aggressive in the third as the Wolves battled back to tie the score 79-79 as Alexander-Walker hit a three and DiVincenzo hit threes on consecutive possessions, forcing a timeout from Thunder coach Mark Daigneault.

The Thunder scored seven straight points out of that timeout before the Thunder closed ahead 90-85.

After his supporting cast had a rough Game 3, Gilgeous-Alexander sensed the moment and came out more aggressive. He had 40 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

24 second-chance points for the Thunder.

When the Wolves look back on this game, that one will hurt the most. Even more than the 23 turnovers they committed. If the Wolves clean up the boards, they win the game.

“It’s an uphill battle, but everyone is sticking together,” DiVincenzo said. “We lost the turnovers, we lost the offensive rebounds, and we still only lost by two.”

Game 5 is Wednesday in Oklahoma City (7:30 p.m., ESPN).