Familiar foes Timberwolves, Thunder to tangle again

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder have gotten plenty familiar with each other recently.

The teams will square off for the third time in four games and the second consecutive night when they meet Monday in Oklahoma City. This will be the their final clash of the season.

The Thunder won Sunday night’s matchup in Minneapolis 130-123 behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 37-point, eight-rebound, eight-assist performance.

The Thunder outscored the Timberwolves 25-13 after Gilgeous-Alexander re-entered the game with eight minutes left.

Of course, it wasn’t just Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday. just as it hasn’t been for Oklahoma City’s so-far dominant season atop the Western Conference.

Sunday, it was also three fourth-quarter 3-pointers from Alex Caruso, Chet Holmgren’s three blocks at the rim, and seven players with multiple assists — among other factors.

“The depth that we have right now is a positive thing,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It’s going to be different players on different nights. We need everybody. It’s obviously been a more limited rotation these two games out of break, but that won’t be the case for all 25 games.”

While the Thunder’s defense has been the team’s calling card all season, Sunday wasn’t up to the standards Daigneault has set for his club.

“We gotta get a little better tomorrow,” Daigneault said after Sunday’s game.

Oklahoma City comes into Monday’s game with an NBA-best 104.8 defensive rating — points allowed per 100 possessions. The Thunder have a Western Conference-best 46-10 record.

“It’s a tough team to play, Oklahoma City. They’re very, very physical on one end and on the other end they seemingly create a lot of contact offensively and benefit from that,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “It can be frustrating, but we’ve just got to try to make the next play.”

It is unclear whether Holmgren will play Monday. He has yet to play both nights of a back-to-back since returning from a pelvic fracture Feb. 7.

While Oklahoma City might be without Holmgren, the Timberwolves continue to be even more shorthanded.

Rudy Gobert has missed the past three games with back spasms. Donte DiVincenzo (toe sprain) and Julius Randle (groin strain) have missed significant time, though both DiVincenzo and Randle are nearing a return. DiVincenzo and Randle haven’t played since Jan. 15 and Jan. 31, respectively.

Minnesota’s Jaylen Clark also was knocked out of the game on Sunday after a hard fall in the third quarter sidelined him the rest of the way with neck pain.

Finch said after the game he didn’t have an update on Clark’s status for Monday’s game.

Oklahoma City has won nine of its past 10 overall, its only loss in that stretch coming 116-101 in Minnesota on Feb. 13 in the teams’ final game before the All-Star break.

The Timberwolves have dropped four of their past five games. They enter the game in seventh place in the Western Conference, one game out of an automatic playoff berth.

The contest Monday is the first of a four-game road trip for the Timberwolves, who will play seven of their next nine away from home.

For the Thunder, the game is the lone home game in the middle of a pair of three-game road trips.

Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards has picked up two technical fouls in two games since the All-Star break and has 14 on the season to move within two of receiving an automatic one-game suspension.

–Field Level Media