OKC Shines in Western Conference Finals Opener Against Wolves

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00:00Game number one of the Western Conference Finals in 2025 last night in Oklahoma City between the

00:06Thunder and the Timberwolves. Maybe you saw this stat yesterday. The first Western Conference

00:12Finals that does not feature a team in the association from the state of California or

00:17the state of Texas in nearly three decades for the first time since 1996. So OKC and Minnesota

00:25showing out for a different portion of the country. The Thunder and the Timberwolves last

00:31night in the opening game of the set. OKC a seven point home favorite. A total consistently on the

00:37rise throughout Tuesday DRS at 218 and a hook in courtesy of a dominant and impressive second half

00:46from Oklahoma City. The Thunder take game number one on their home floor in a big way. 114-88. OKC

00:55routes Minnesota. The Thunder cover as a seven point home favorite and that total of 218 and a hook

01:02because of the stingy physical defense from OKC stays well under Oklahoma City in its first Western

01:09Conference Finals in nearly a decade has a 1-0 series lead. Yeah and also you're looking at the

01:15line from yesterday right and most of the public and rightfully so 65 percent betting and about 65 percent

01:20of the money at the FanDuel Sportsbook going on the Minnesota Timberwolves because you were looking

01:24and saying OK Timberwolves series number one Ben for one win easy get off the court against LeBron

01:28James and Luka Doncic. Series number two drop game one injury to a superstar player easily handle next

01:34four games and move on rested and ready against a team that just played a game number seven. Oh

01:39the Timberwolves might be able to be able to steal game number one but at least they'll be able to hang

01:43around on that one and they did for the first half but that wasn't why I like the Oklahoma City

01:47Thunder. I'm just using based on what I feel athletes go through and sometimes those intangibles

01:53that aren't really in the X's and O's. When you are locked and loaded in playoff mode it takes you

01:57a little bit to sort of come down from that high of game number seven. They played extremely well

02:01yesterday in the first half and now as I talk about even footing for game number two we'll get

02:05to that a little bit later but I thought it would play out as a double digit victory for Oklahoma City.

02:09I also thought Lou Dort would do a great job on Anthony Edwards who finished five of 13 from the field

02:14only 18 total points and how about a team worst minus 23 for the Ant-Man. I expect him to bounce

02:20back and be better in the series because he's a great basketball player and that's what they do

02:23but from last night just looking at the overall optics of it I was impressed by Minnesota in the

02:27first half but I wasn't surprised that the Thunder were able to pull away. Having said that when I say

02:32double digit wins I'm expecting double digit win bet I'm expecting maybe 10 11 12 points here not a 114 to

02:3888 absolutely blasting there of the Timberwolves. That was a great performance for OKC. They're here to win

02:43this thing. 68 wins in the regular season was no fluke and they're trying to tell you about that

02:48right now. And Donnie one of the fascinating things as well the Timberwolves took it to OKC early.

02:54We have always questioned this Thunder core this version of Oklahoma City. How would they respond

03:00to some playoff adversity through that seven game series tightly contested against the Nuggets.

03:05They passed with flying colors. They're down by a few at the break in the opening game of the

03:10Western Conference finals on their own home floor. They come out and win the second half

03:15by 30. They closed the third quarter on a 20 to 6 run to take a double digit lead into the fourth and

03:21final quarter and pulled away even further from that point. We'll talk about some of the storylines

03:27of this game. The physicality the Thunder play with defensively and that same physicality maybe not

03:33respected by the referees last night for Minnesota on the defensive end of the floor. But a total DRS

03:40when we were discussing this game on Monday afternoon at 215. I bet the under then expecting

03:47two good defenses with a couple of matchup advantages that they had exploited in the opening few rounds

03:53that were pretty equal here in the Western Conference finals to stay under and it did.

03:58But the public was hammering the over yesterday to 18 and a hook to 19 stays well under Minnesota

04:06unable to even register 90 points on the road. OKC has been booked as a favorite now in all 12

04:13playoff games. They are five in seven against the spread. We talked about it often best team in the

04:19NBA throughout the regular season 68 wins best covered team in the association of the regular season

04:25better than a 65 percent clip. But now DRS booked as a favorite in all 12 games just five and seven

04:32against the spread. But all of those five covers Oklahoma City has won in a rout by at least 19

04:39points. Minnesota an underdog for just the fourth time in this playoff run. Never a dog against Golden

04:45State. An underdog three times against the Lakers. They're now two and two both straight up and against the spread.

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