The OKC Thunder are heading to their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2016, with their Game 1 tip-off scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30 pm (CT).
Their opponent, the Minnesota Timberwolves, have already proven themselves to be quite a formidable foe throughout the 2024-25 campaign, as the two clubs split their season series at 2-2.
On top of this factor serving as somewhat of a preexisting concern, fears of fatigue from Oklahoma City's recent seven-game semifinal showdown are also being viewed as a potential disadvantage for the team.
However, even with all of these inherent storylines heading into the series opener, the Thunder's primary focus should be on trying to contain Minnesota's most dangerous player, and, after two rounds of postseason action, there's a case to be made that said individual is not Anthony Edwards at this point.
Julius Randle could give Thunder serious problems in conference finals
Though Anthony Edwards may be the face of the T-Wolves franchise and has regularly been tossed into the conversation of best player in the NBA, considering OKC is filled to the brim with prominent backcourt defenders such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, and Alex Caruso, the approach to combatting the superstar guard seems rather straight forward.
The problem when game planning for Minnesota is attempting to draw up a scheme to try and neutralize the likes of Julius Randle, who, through 10 games in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, has been playing some of the best basketball of his career.
In 37.6 minutes per game this postseason, the three-time All-Star finds himself dropping 23.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 5.9 assists while shooting 50.9 percent from the field.
He's been performing so well, in fact, that the overwhelmingly prideful defensive savant, Draymond Green admitted during a recent episode of his podcast that, in the semifinal bout between the Wolves and Warriors, he lost his head-to-head matchup against Randle, going as far as to label the power forward's play as "incredible."
As witnessed during their own round-two matchup against the Nuggets, Oklahoma City has proven to be susceptible to versatile and highly physical frontcourt talents, and revealed with their on-court defensive schemes that they lack a big man who can reliably square off against such a player.
Toward the end of their series versus Denver, coach Mark Daigneault was forced to throw the 6-foot-5 Alex Caruso up against the 6-foot-11, 284-pound Nikola Jokic. Though the experiment proved to be somewhat effective, in the long term, this is far from a recipe for success.
In all likelihood, Randle's two main defensive assignments will be Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, two All-Defense-level ballers who can force players into turnovers (something the Minnesota big has struggled with this postseason).
If they can find a way to cool him off from both the mid-range (shooting roughly 65.0 percent this postseason) and on floaters (roughly 50.0 percent conversion rate), the Thunder will have their best shot of heading to the NBA Finals in years.
However, as seen in rounds one and two, a locked-in Julius Randle can be a real game-changer for the Timberwolves.
To secure a championship round berth, Oklahoma City has to find a way to handle the surging star forward.