On Monday, the Minnesota Timberwolves suffered a tough 128-126 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder. For most of the game, the Wolves were trailing, trying to get a hold of the lead. However, the hounding defense that the Thunder displayed prevented Minnesota’s top players from making a significant contribution to Game 4, which led to a 3-1 series lead for OKC.
The Thunder slowed down Anthony Edwards by putting Lu Dort, their main perimeter defender, on him the entire game. Dort held Edwards to just 16 points on 38.5 percent shooting from the field. The All-Star guard added four rebounds and six assists as he also struggled to shoot from downtown. The former Georgia star went 1-for-7 beyond the arc.
His teammate, Julius Randle, also didn’t have the best game. Randle scored five points, had seven rebounds and dished three assists on 14.3 percent shooting from the field.
On the final play of the game, there were 0.3 seconds left on the clock. The Wolves attempted to tie the game with an alley oop. Randle was at the backcourt, inbounding the ball. The team positioned All-Star center Rudy Gobert to potentially catch the lob pass.
The All-Star forward threw the pass, but it wasn’t high enough and fell into the hands of Jalen Williams, which sealed the Thunder’s win.
Following the contest, former three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard gave his feedback on Minnesota’s attempt to tie the game.
“You supposed to throw it up as high as possible so gobert can dunk it like I did the spurs that time 😒” Howard posted.
The eight-time All-Star was referring to the Orlando Magic game back in 2007 against the San Antonio Spurs. With 0.8 seconds left on the clock and the score tied at 104, Hedo Turkoglu threw a lob pass to Howard that gave them the win.
Anthony Edwards is still confident in the Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves have their backs turned against them after their tough loss. Despite this, however, Edwards is still not worried about their season potentially ending in Game 5 at OKC.
In the locker room, the three-time All-Star didn’t appear bothered that the Thunder had the advantage in the series.
“I feel good, man,” Edwards said. “Just try to get one and come back home.”
Edwards also said that he didn’t struggle against the Thunder since he didn’t have enough shots.
“I don’t look at it like I struggled — or he struggled — it’s just, they had a good game playing, making us get off the ball… I made the right plays, so I don’t really look at it like I struggled. I didn’t get enough shots to say I struggled.”
Game 5 will be on Wednesday at the Paycom Center.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
