Timberwolves takeaways following a 114-88 loss to Oklahoma City in Game 1

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Timberwolves had a lot of things they didn’t want to do when they played the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference finals Tuesday night.

But the Thunder made the Wolves do them anyway.

The Wolves turned the ball over, they hurried themselves on offense, and they put Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the free-throw line, even if the calls were dubious at times. It all added up to a 114-88 Wolves loss in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.

Oklahoma City outscored the Wolves 70-40 in the second half.

The Wolves struggled to score, whether they were getting open shots or not. They got very little in terms of scoring from their three main bench contributors — Naz Reid, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Donte DiVincenzo shot a combined 7-for-36.

The Wolves committed 19 turnovers and shot just 35%, while Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points, 11 at the free-throw line. He was 2-for-13 in the first half from the field, 8-for-14 in the second half.

Julius Randle (28 points) kept the Wolves afloat for a while, but the Thunder overwhelmed the Wolves.

Anthony Edwards, who left the game briefly in the first half because of a leg injury, finished with 18 points on 5-for-13 shooting.

The Wolves looked all out of sorts in the second half. They were rushed on offense, and a defense that held the Thunder to 44 points in the first half was a step slow. Oklahoma City kept pouring it on after grabbing control late in the third quarter. The Thunder had 31 points off those 19 Wolves turnovers.

There was a lot going on in the opening minutes. Gilgeous-Alexander got a friendly whistle and went to the line seven times before the first timeout. One of those came when Edwards got a technical after he threw the ball back at Gilgeous-Alexander after Gilgeous-Alexander drew a foul on Jaden McDaniels. The Wolves led 23-20 after one quarter despite committing seven turnovers.

Randle helped the Wolves get through the non-Edwards minutes to open the second quarter. Edwards was in the locker room after he appeared to favor his right ankle/foot after a fall late in the first quarter. Randle had 18 of the Wolves’ first 40 points as they built a 40-33 lead. He finished the half with 20. The Wolves were getting little help from their bench, which was 3-for-20.

The Wolves led 60-56 when the Thunder shut them down for 4:11 and went on a 10-0 run. Wolves coach Chris Finch tried to get his team back together and prevent the Thunder from going on a large run by calling a pair of timeouts, and they finally broke the run when Edwards hit a layup with 3:11 left in the quarter.

But it didn’t get much better for the Wolves after that. Kenrich Williams hit a pair of shots, then Gilgeous-Alexander hit a jumper to put the Thunder up 73-62. The Wolves kept missing at the other end to the tune of 6-for-19 in the quarter.

The fourth quarter was a runaway, with the Thunder outscoring the Wolves 38-22.

Back to the drawing board for the Wolves and Finch, who have to come up with a different plan of attack for the Wolves offense against the Thunder defense.

Making more shots will help, but the Wolves have to find a way to curb their turnovers. And it won’t be easy with the Thunder enjoying a big home-crowd advantage.

Gilgeous-Alexander turned it around for the Thunder in the second half and finished with 31 points and nine assists. The Wolves did a good job defending him in the first half, but he got loose in the second.

Gilgeous-Alexander fell down and hit a shot in the fourth quarter that fouled out McDaniels with 5:21 to play. The play, on which there appeared to be minimal contact, encapsulated the second half and how frustrating it was for the Wolves to guard Gilgeous-Alexander.

Game 2 is Thursday in Oklahoma City at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN).