The Oklahoma City Thunder have the NBA’s best record entering the final day of action before the All-Star break.
They would like to keep it that way.
The Thunder will look to lock up the top record before the break when they tip off against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday in Minneapolis.
Oklahoma City, which sits a half-game ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the overall NBA standings, is riding a seven-game winning streak after knocking off the visiting Miami Heat 115-101 on Wednesday.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 32 points and dished nine assists in the victory. Luguentz Dort added 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting while playing lockdown defense against Miami.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault praised Dort’s efforts in helping Oklahoma City limit Heat All-Star Tyler Herro to 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting.
“These are great players he’s guarding,” Daigneault said. “Herro’s a great player. Great, great player.
“It’s just amazing how hard (Dort) makes you work for your stuff. That’s really the secret sauce. It’s not that he can clamp them and lock them down, per se, although he gets to that in stretches of the game. These guys are too good. But just the physical energy and focus that they have to exert when they play against him is what’s always impressed me about him.
“He’s the kind of guy that you look at, guarding you, it’s like, ‘Man, I have to earn every point that I get tonight.’ His relentlessness with that and his spirit with that is just so impressive.”
The Timberwolves are coming off a 103-101 home loss against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. Minnesota lost despite the absence of the Bucks’ top two players, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 28 points, but he missed a last-second shot that could have given Minnesota the victory.
Minnesota coach Chris Finch said he would continue to rely upon younger players heading into the final game before the break. Three rookies earned significant playing time Wednesday, with Terrence Shannon Jr. scoring 11 points, Rob Dillingham adding two and Jaylen Clark being held scoreless in 14 minutes.
“I think it’s good for the players to feel a little bit of pressure, I really do,” Finch said. “Fifty-five games into the season, we’ve got to start becoming who we really can be. … I think it’s important to realize that all these games are really going to matter when we add them all up at the end of the season.
“So if that brings a pressure that players are not able to handle, then maybe they’re not players that we need to go to war with.”
This is the second of four meetings during the regular season between the Thunder and the Timberwolves. Oklahoma City won the first matchup 113-105 at home on Dec. 31 behind 40 points on 15-for-23 shooting by Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Thursday game will represent another homecoming for Chet Holmgren, who played in high school ball at Minnehaha Academy in the Twin Cities before going on to Gonzaga.
Holmgren took Wednesday off because of rest, and he is expected to rejoin the Oklahoma City lineup on Thursday as he prepares to take on Minnesota big men Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid.
–Field Level Media