Wolves record: 20-50
Actually, it was more of an afternoon nap for the Wolves, who trailed by as many as 32 points in a 97-90 loss to an Oklahoma City team they had beaten by 42 on its last visit to Minnesota.
In their one home appearance between three-game road trips, the Wolves started sluggishly and didn’t wake up until the fourth quarter, when the bench outscored the Thunder 37-13 to make the final score deceptively close.
“Other than that, we had no energy out there,” coach Kevin McHale said. “We couldn’t get anything going. Missing shots, two guys colliding into each other. We had no rhythm. The only thing I can think of is they looked really tired. It was just a bad performance.”
The Thunder controlled the game from the opening tip, and were up 10 at the end of the first quarter. The second and third quarters is really where they put the game away though, as they outscored the Wolves 58-37 during that span and hit 21 on of their 40 field goal attempts. As usual, OKC was led by their big three of Durant, Jeff Green, who finished with 17 points, and Russell Westbrook, who came close to notching his second triple-double of the season with seven points, eight rebounds, and 10 assists.
Craig Smith scored 19 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota and Bobby Brown fueled a late Wolves run with 12 points in the fourth quarter. Rodney Carney had 12 of his 15 points in the fourth and Kevin Love finished with 10.
After trailing by as many as 32, Minnesota managed to cut the lead to single digits in the final minute, but the Wolves had waited too long to make a game of it.
Asked how his team went from a 42-point loss on Jan. 7 to a 32-point lead in the same building, Brooks said, “Defense…And they’re a different team without Jefferson. He had All-Star numbers this year. He’s close to being an All Star. It’s a different team without him…and we’re a different team.”
That’s part of the reason. Afterward, McHale was mystified by his team’s lifelessness and the “glazed look on their faces.” The Wolves only made it a game when their reserves brought them back with a 37-13 fourth quarter that wasn’t nearly enough.
“We were just out of it right from the start,” he said. “I’ve been playing them long minutes. Maybe we have to change it up because that’s unacceptable.”
