Thunder falters on Minnesota's second night, struggling offensively and losing winning plays. Reintegrating Jalen Williams adds complexity to their trajectory.
The Oklahoma City Thunder dropped its second game in its last three in what’s been an unexpected negative turnaround. After playing the first month of the season with only one loss, the Thunder suddenly has three, and this one had the feel of a weird schedule spot more than some massive warning sign. It was the second night of a back-to-back in Minnesota, it got choppy early, and OKC fell 112-107 in a game where it never fully settled into its normal offensive rhythm.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was excellent again, finishing with 35 points and seven assists, but outside of him the Thunder’s offense didn’t consistently generate clean looks or sustained flow. Possessions felt a little more “your turn, my turn” than usual, and when OKC does not stack stops into transition chances, the half-court burden gets heavier in a hurry.
Minnesota won the important categories that usually decide games like this with the physical sequences, the extra chances, and the overall edge work that shows up in the margins. The Timberwolves got to the free throw line more, they played with real force, and they looked like the team that wanted it a little more from the opening tip.
Anthony Edwards had a huge night, and his impact wasn’t just scoring. He made big defensive plays down the stretch that helped Minnesota close the door when it looked like OKC might steal it late. The game also had a strange early moment when Chris Finch was ejected in the first quarter after arguing a foul call, but if anything it seemed to sharpen Minnesota’s focus rather than rattle it.
But the biggest picture layer here is Jalen Williams, because reintegrating him was always going to come with some wonkiness, and that’s not a concern. It’s just reality. He’s the Thunder’s second best player, he’s been out, and he hadn’t been able to use his right hand for months before rejoining the team a few games back. That’s not just a box score thing, that’s feel, timing, angles, finishing packages, handle confidence and decision speed. And when you’re plugging a star back into a machine that’s been rolling without him, everybody’s touches, roles, and spacing naturally shift.
There are going to be nights where the two-man game with Shai isn’t perfectly synced yet, where the read off a tag is half a beat late, where the shot profile is a little off, where Jalen is thinking instead of reacting. Those reps matter, and the only way to get them is to live through games like this.
That’s why this December loss isn’t a storyline that changes anything about OKC’s trajectory. The Thunder is 25-3. The goals are bigger than a random road back-to-back in December. This is a team built for April, May and June, and if anything, the small bumps right now are part of becoming even better when the games actually start to matter.