1-0 in the Western Conference Finals! An ugly victory, Alexander scored 31+9+5! Edwards scored 18 points and 9 rebounds

At 8:30 am on May 21, in the first game of the NBA Playoffs Western Conference Finals, the Thunder played against the Timberwolves at home. Before the game, most of the people who were optimistic about the Thunder's advancement. After all, the Thunder is the number one in the Western Conference. They broke many records during the regular season and have too strong dominance. Although Alexander's stability in the playoffs declined, his personal data is still very good. He averaged 29 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists per game, and his overall shooting percentage remains at 48%, which is worthy of being the MVP of the NBA this year. Of course, the Timberwolves are definitely a team that is difficult to deal with. They can easily eliminate the Lakers and Warriors in the first two rounds of the series, and have almost no pressure. They are the team that has played the most easily in the playoffs so far. After the second round, the Timberwolves also received a lot of rest time.

On the other hand, just looking at the hard battle performance, Edwards, the Timberwolves star, is no worse than Alexander. When talking about Edwards, his teammate Walker said: "What he is most special is his personality - he can always make the game easier and be confident in himself. This is exactly why he became Edwards. He doesn't care about the outside world's evaluation at all. Even if you can really pick a problem, he will definitely slap you in the face." Randall also said: "This is incredible - what you see is the real him, and it's like this every day, never changed. He has no bad days, he will not be depressed, taciturn or evade training. This is Edwards." There is no doubt that Edwards is one of the most leading new generation stars in the active league, and he is expected to become the future face of the league.

In this game, both sides were in the starting lineup, the Timberwolves sent out McDaniels, Randall, Edwards, Gobert and Conley, and the Thunder sent out Chet, Dort, Haltenstein, Jaylen Williams, and Alexander. At the beginning of the first quarter, Gobert won the jump ball, and the Timberwolves took the lead. McDan made a three-pointer on the top of the arc and scored the first goal of the game. Edwards scored a single, took a step back and made a strong three-pointer and shot through the heart. McDan also had a layup in the empty cut inside. The Timberwolves scored 8-0 at the beginning. Hartten's swing and smashed the basket and finally opened for the Thunder. Edwards continued to score unreasonably in the middle. Alexander flew into the throw and made a continuous killing score. Randle fired at the top of the arc and made a long three-pointer. In terms of offensive efficiency, the Timberwolves are still better in the first quarter, but they made many mistakes and were constantly seized by the Thunder to counterattack the fast attack opportunity to narrow the gap. At the end of the first quarter, the Timberwolves led the Thunder by 3 points 23-20. At the beginning of the second quarter, Hartten raised high and shot high in the penalty area to help the Thunder win the first goal. Randall forced a three-pointer against the defense and entered the center of the net. Caruso was not willing to be outdone. He made a big three-pointer with a big open space. Hartten drove straight into the side layup, and there were also some three-pointers on the side. Walker raised his hand and three-pointer at a 45-degree angle, and made a quick hit. Randall made a twisting waist layup after losing balance. Gobert made a second attack in the penalty area, shocked everyone's slam dunk. Edwards rushed forward and wanted to break through to create a foul. He stood on the free throw line and had both free throws.

Timberwolves have always taken the initiative and maintained a slight lead. After halftime, the Timberwolves led the Thunder by 4 points 48-44. The second half began, and the change of sides was played again. Jaylen Williams's ultra-long three-pointer fired and shot through the heart, opening the prelude to the third quarter. Chett ate a cake under the basket, dunked with both hands to ignite the whole game, Edwards' ultra-long three-point jump shot was counterattacked, Jayley and Alexander also made two consecutive mid-range distances, and Kenway scored 5 points in a row. By the third quarter, Randall, who had a hot touch in the first half, also fell into cooldown. He only made one move in a single quarter without scoring. The Timberwolves also made a series of three-pointers on the bench. On the other hand, the team was getting better and better. Alexander's condition not only continued to cause damage, but also became more and more stable in the long-distance range. After the third quarter of the game, the Thunder led the Timberwolves 10 points 76-66. In the final quarter, Divinchenzo and Homgren shot each other three-pointers, Reed scored steadily from a high arc in the penalty area, Randle also flew to create a foul, and Alexander made a foul with a 2+1 fraud foul. Entering the middle of the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves began to collapse. The Thunder's three-pointer feels hotter and hotter. Alexander controls the rhythm of the game with great freedom and leads the team to expand the lead to more than 20 points. But to be honest, the Thunder's winning this game is indeed ugly, and it is all about fouls. Alexander has too many whistles, and the referees on both sides are not the same standard. In the end, the Thunder defeated the Timberwolves 114-88 and led 1-0 in the Western Conference Final. In terms of data, on the Timberwolves, Randle scored 28 points and 8 rebounds, Edwards was average invasive, scoring 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, McDaniels left the court with 7 points, 6 rebounds and 6 fouls, Conley scored 7 points, Reed scored 4 points and 8 rebounds, and Gobert scored 2 points and 3 rebounds. On the Thunder, Alexander scored 31 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists on 10 of 27 shots, Jaylen Williams scored 19 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, Chett scored 15 points and 7 rebounds, Harten scored 12 points and 5 rebounds, and Caruso scored 9 points.