It is possible to squint and imagine how the Timberwolves’ five-game Western Conference finals loss against Oklahoma City might have played out differently.
What if the Wolves had been able to build a bigger first-half lead in Game 1 at Oklahoma City? Maybe the Wolves could have won that game?
What if the Wolves had been able to secure a Game 4 win, which instead was a two-point loss in which Minnesota had plenty of offense (126 points) but couldn’t get enough stops against the red-hot Thunder?
Ultimately, though, it’s hard to imagine the series playing out much differently results-wise without imagining the Wolves playing differently instead of just better than they did.
For that sort of what-if, the Pacers are giving the Wolves plenty to think about in the NBA Finals. Indiana was a huge underdog going into the series, but a blowout Game 6 win Thursday set up a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday in Oklahoma City.
What exactly can the Wolves learn from the Pacers? Let’s look at a few ideas in today’s 10 things to know.
- Indiana plays fast without being reckless, a great combination that can be used to combat Oklahoma City’s stifling half-court defense. The Pacers ranked No. 7 in “pace” during the regular season and are No. 3 among playoff teams. But more than just having a lot of possessions, Indiana knows what to do with the ball to put pressure on a defense. The Wolves, by contrast, play relatively slow: No. 25 in pace during the regular season. When they tried to speed things up at times against the Thunder, the result was too often a negative play because they lacked the correct personnel to play that way.
- That brings me to the second idea: Head coach Chris Finch earlier this week said he wants Anthony Edwards to play faster and get back to more rim attacks in transition next season. If that’s going to happen, Ant needs different running mates than the starting five the Wolves often deployed last year. Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley Jr. and Jaden McDaniels are far from the ideal group to open the floor for Ant. If Edwards is going to be able to play faster during key stretches against top opponents, he needs to be in a lot more lineups with youngsters who can push the pace like Terrence Shannon Jr. and Rob Dillingham.
- Perhaps the most heartening lesson the Wolves can take from Indiana is that OKC is not invincible. Maybe Denver taught them that, too, by also taking the Thunder to a Game 7 in the conference semifinals but the key to the Nuggets’ success (have a generational talent at center who can do everything offensively) is harder to replicate than what Indiana is doing. The Pacers might not win it all, but they have shown teams that not all hope is lost for next season and beyond.
- Shifting gears to the Twins, Byron Buxton finished a remarkable series against the Reds with two more home runs in Thursday’s slump-busting 12-5 win. That gave him four in the series and 15 on the season, the latter total being more than twice as many as any teammate aside from Trevor Larnach (10). Buxton’s career-high for a season is 28.
- The Twins ended a six-game losing streak with the win and gave us another good lesson in averages. They have averaged four runs per game in their last seven contests. But almost half of those came Thursday while the other 16 came in the six-game losing streak. You could say the Twins are still drowning in a river that is on average four feet (runs) deep, one of my favorite statistical analogies from one of my favorite writers, Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
- My favorite story this week came from the Star Tribune’s Brooks Johnson with a border battle tale of Hormel vs. Johnsonville and an accusation of stolen sausage secrets. An astute Bluesky commenter had an idea: Let the winner of this weekend’s Twins vs. Brewers series decide the case.
- The Twins are no doubt hoping for three big crowds for what should be a hot series against Milwaukee. Target Field attendance so far this year has been relatively dismal, ranking No. 25 in MLB at just over 20,000 per game. The Twins tend to do much better between Memorial Day and Labor Day than the rest of the year, so this is their time to boost that number.
- Streaming accounted for a larger share of viewership than traditional cable and satellite for the first time ever in May.
- The Dodgers and Padres do not like each other.
- Boys’ basketball recruiting expert Ryan James was my guest on Friday’s podcast, helping to break down players to watch and how his rankings are compiled.
