After looking virtually unstoppable through two games of play during this year's Western Conference Finals, the OKC Thunder came back down to Earth during Saturday's Game 3 showdown out in Minnesota.
Right from the jump, the Timberwolves looked to have more of a pep in their step and a determination not yet seen in round three, with superstar Anthony Edwards, in particular, rattling off a quick 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the floor and, simultaneously, leading the team to an 18-9 lead through the initial six minutes of action.
From there, their edge on the scoreboard would only balloon, never to be relinquished, and, ultimately, found itself growing to a whopping 45 late in the fourth, only to conclude with a genuine wallop of a loss for Oklahoma City via a 143-101 conclusion.
Though the series lead may now only be 2-1 and still in favor of the Thunder, Saturday night's performance saw the T-Wolves tap into an area of play that was previously taken away by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company.
Now, with it having awoken and simultaneously inflicting damage to the tune of a 42-point drubbing, there may be some concern that Minnesota could be on the verge of flipping this series on its head.
Timberwolves dominated the paint in Game 3 vs OKC Thunder
As previously pointed out by Edwards earlier in the series, the Thunder managed to find a way to neutralize arguably the biggest part of the All-Star's game in interior scoring.
Frankly, they found out how to take this area of play away from the ball club as a whole, as the Timberwolves stormed into the conference finals ranking second in the NBA Playoffs in points in the paint scoring per game with 51.6, only to then see this production plummet to a putrid 32.0 through Games 1 & 2, dead last among remaining participants.
In Game 3, the Timberwolves seemingly found a way to finally come back to life in this department, pulling a complete 180 compared to their previous two bouts by outscoring OKC 56-42 in the painted area, with Edwards and his difference-making co-star, Julius Randle, combining for roughly 35.0 percent of this particular production while the team collectively shot 62.2 percent on such looks.
It should come as no surprise that this efficiency and flat-out domination in interior scoring paved the way to such a commanding win for Minnesota -- after all, it's been their recipe for success all postseason long.
Though the Thunder should still feel comfortable with their current lead, if they can't find a way to re-silence this aspect of the T-Wolves' play, this series could become far more challenging than it originally was shaping up to be.