Game Grades: OKC Thunder dominate against West's top seed

The Oklahoma City Thunder earned an impressive win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.
Dec 26, 2023; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2)
Dec 26, 2023; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) / Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
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The Oklahoma City Thunder bounced back with a dominant victory.

The Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 129-106 in a rematch of last season’s Play-In Tournament. In their first meeting in Oklahoma City this season, the Thunder took out their frustrations on the top seed in the West.

The OKC Thunder get a big win over the No. 1 seed.

After briefly holding the lead early in the first quarter, the Timberwolves never got the scoreboard back on their side. The Thunder jumped out to an 11-point lead toward the end of the first half.

But Minnesota went on a small run to end the second quarter to go into halftime trailing by just six. Oklahoma City was not interested in playing around.

The Thunder gradually grew their lead up to 15 during the third quarter before blowing the game open in the fourth.

Oklahoma City’s 3-point shooting was a key to winning. The team nailed 18 of 39 looks from outside to continually keep Minnesota from making up any ground.

But making up ground was an uphill battle for the Timberwolves after turning it over 21 times on Tuesday. Despite their size advantage down low, they still got outscored in the paint by the Thunder 58-44.

The Thunder will play the second half of this back-to-back on Wednesday against the New York Knicks.