Suddenly, it’s over: Timberwolves’ season ends with humbling loss to Oklahoma City

OKLAHOMA CITY – With the crowd at Paycom Center cheering and songs like Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” blaring outside a dimly lit hallway near their locker room, the Timberwolves made their way in single file off the floor Wednesday night.

Their season had just ended with a thud in a 124-94 scalding from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

As they did against Dallas last season, the Wolves made it to the Western Conference finals, only to lose in spectacular crash-out fashion in the fifth game.

First in Wednesday’s procession, wearing black, was coach Chris Finch, who gave a quick greeting to front office assistant Dell Demps and headed to the coaches’ locker room.

“We were beat by the better team,” Finch said later. “So you fight, you fight, you fight — but they played better, they’re better.

“I’m not one of these guys that takes losses into the summer with me. We’ll learn and we’ll regroup, but the better team won this series, and I’m proud of our guys and our organization for getting here.”

Assistant coaches followed Finch down the hallway before players processed out.

There were a lot of hanging heads or hidden faces.

Julius Randle, who couldn’t solve the Thunder’s handsy, aggressive defense much of the series, had his head in his jersey.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker had a towel over his in what might have been his last game with the team that revived his career.

As the players walked by, most didn’t say a word. A Thunder stadium security guard held out a hand to offer a fist bump or high five, but most didn’t acknowledge him, either because their heads were down and they didn’t see him, or they just didn’t want to dap him up.

Timberwolves All-NBA guard Anthony Edwards, who had an inconsistent series close with 19 points on 7-for-18 shooting, had cameras follow him off the floor.

“They came ready to play, and we didn’t,” Edwards said. “When you lose a game like this, there’s not really too much to break down. They just did what they was supposed to do and won the game.”

Last in the line was President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly with incoming controlling owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez; the three were having a conversation before they eventually entered the coaches’ locker room.

The coaches made their way over to the players area, and you could hear applause through the walls shortly after they walked in.

But despite that outward sign of positivity, and some of Finch’s and the players’ upbeat postgame comments, nobody embodied the anger and disappointment of Game 5 quite like Mike Conley. The stoic 37-year-old point guard, who rarely shows outward emotion despite a burning competitive fire, let that fire burn to the surface. His reddened eyes couldn’t hide the fact that they had shed a few tears, and the disappointment was in his somber tone and dejected gaze.

“I don’t think anybody can really feel what I feel,” Conley said. “I can’t ask them to feel that because they haven’t been around as long and seen how few opportunities you get at this chance.

“For me it’s going to take a while to kind of dissect what we just did and weren’t able to accomplish. But at the same time, I’m proud of my team, proud of these guys. They really fought, not just for me but just for the whole team.”

Conley has made it three times to the conference finals in his decorated career, and he knows how hard it can be to get to this point. So that’s why perhaps he was feeling it a little more than his teammates were Wednesday night — and why the Wolves’ complete no-show in Game 5 stung. It was as if the Wolves were emotionally spent after losing Game 4 by two and decided to just pack it in. They started the night 1-for-11, had just nine points in the first quarter, a season low, and never fought back.

“Disappointed we couldn’t make it happen for him again this year,” Edwards said of Conley. “But like he said, we’ll be right back to try to make it happen for him again next year. Come a little bit more prepared, be ready. We know what to expect. It should be fun gearing up for next year.”

Edwards can say that with the luxury of youth at 23 and having now made the conference finals in two of his five seasons. Conley and Finch know it doesn’t always happen that way.

When asked if the young Thunder, with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34 points), were going to be in the Wolves’ way for the foreseeable future, Finch said nothing is guaranteed.

“The league is so hard right now. Obviously health factors into it. Roster construction, being able to afford the tax — all these things come into play at some point,” Finch said. “That’s why you got to go for it now. You really do. Whenever you’re in the moment.”

The Wolves weren’t in the moment Wednesday, they were seemingly on another planet. They had 21 turnovers, their fatal flaw against the Thunder’s opportunistic defense. Randle led them with 24 points but had eight points and four turnovers in the first half, when the Thunder led by as many as 33.

“It hurts. Once that buzzer sounds and you’re just able to feel everything, it hurts,” Randle said. “It hurts. That’s where I’m at right now. It’s almost like a grieving stage of the season, and it hurts, really. But we’ll be back.”

Will Randle himself be back? He has a player option on his contract, though the way he closed the season makes it seem like there’s a mutual fit between him and the Wolves long term.

Naz Reid also has a player option he’s reportedly likely to decline in advance of a more lucrative payday, but the team views him highly and one of the reasons the Wolves traded Karl-Anthony Towns last offseason was financial flexibility to sign players like Reid.

“I’ve been here for six years, and I don’t plan on doing anything differently,” Reid said. “Hopefully, it’s the same way, same feeling on the other side.”

Alexander-Walker is also an unrestricted free agent. Plenty of questions surround just how the Wolves will be constructed next season. Young players like Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham and Jaylen Clark could fill larger roles depending on what happens with those who were in the top eight of the rotation.

Even after last season, the Wolves opted not to run it back and made the trade for Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. They ended up back in the conference finals after taking a winding path to get there, but the trip ended the same — a shellacking in Game 5. The Mavericks led by as many as 36 in Game 5 last season; the Thunder topped that with a 39-point lead at one point Wednesday.

“It’s disappointing for us, disappointing for our fans, disappointing for everyone in the moment, but man, we work, we do the right things, we come in early, leave late,” Conley said.

BOXSCORE: Thunder 124, Wolves 94

“We do everything we can to try to prepare ourselves for this long season and the ups and downs of it. To be back in this situation says a lot about our team, our coaches, our players’ resiliency throughout the season.”

Can they make it back there again, and next time get over “the hump,” as Reid put it? Despite the confidence in Edwards’ and Randle’s remarks, Conley knows they can assume nothing.

“We’re going to try this thing again next year,” he said.