NBA Western Conference Finals Preview: Thunder vs. Timberwolves

The Western Conference Finals are on the horizon, and they couldn’t get here soon enough.

The 68-win No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder and the red-hot No. 6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves are set to tip off a seven-game series in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night with a historically significant NBA Finals berth on the line.

For hoop purists, this is a matchup for the ages. Anthony Edwards, the 23-year-old future face of the NBA, is leading his rag-tag group of Timberwolves into battle against the most dominant regular-season team since the 2016 Golden State Warriors. Being cautious of hyperbole, it’s a matchup that has a substantial bearing on how the legacies of this generation of stars will be defined. 

While Edwards’ bravado commands the headlines, the quiet killer by the name of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City is the one on the verge of already joining rare historical company. 

SGA On The Way to History

With the 2025 NBA MVP Award all but in the bag pending announcement, Gilgeous-Alexander is seeking to become just the fifth player in the last 25 years to win an MVP and an NBA title in the same season. His potential company? Only Shaq, Tim Duncan, LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

While his MVP candidacy has been the subject of plenty of debate alongside Nikola Jokic, SGA’s performance against the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 was the performance of a player on an all-time great trajectory. With his career-defining season essentially on trial against his biggest competitor in Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander tallied a game-high 35 points on 12-of-19 shooting to lead his team to a decisive 125-93 win.

But it wasn’t just SGA’s MVP candidacy on trial, the Thunder’s reputation as an organization hung in the balance. Despite earning their second consecutive No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, the Thunder were on the verge of being sent home in the second round twice in a row as well. 

“I was nervous, to be honest,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Just knowing what’s on the line. We’ve worked so hard the whole 82-game season, we’ve all worked hard in the summer. To know if you don’t bring your A-game, it could all be over with, all for nothing. But I think that nervousness motivated me and helped me give my all on both ends of the floor and I used it to my advantage.”

Thanks to the performance of their superstar Gilgeous-Alexander and his elite cast of teammates, including Jalen Williams, the 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder remain heavy favorites to win their first NBA championship.

Phased By Nothing

If there’s one player and one team in the NBA that’s going to embrace a matchup with such historical implications, it’s Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ant-Man has already earned a reputation as the NBA’s “Legend Killer”, even getting a co-sign from the original Legend Killer, WWE superstar Randy Orton.

.@theantedwards_ ☠️ 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/yiJrpLq6Td

— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) May 5, 2025

Edwards lived up to that nickname in the first round, sending LeBron and the Los Angeles Lakers packing in a gentleman’s sweep. Though Curry got hurt in Game one, Edwards did pack “Playoff Jimmy” Butler and first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Draymond Green’s bags for Cancun with another gentleman’s sweep.

While Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t yet stamped as a legend, ending the soon-to-be announced MVP’s historic march to the NBA Finals in its tracks is a much different task than knocking off an aging superstar. The Timberwolves fell short in the Western Conference Finals against Dallas last season and that team wasn’t nearly as menacing as this Thunder group. 

Edwards was just focused on making sure his team remained fresh despite five consecutive off-days entering the series. 

“(It feels different this year) because we got a little break,” Edwards said. “We got like four or five days to rest up, get treatment. So yeah, it feels a little different, a lot more rested for sure. There’s really no benefit of going through it last year, we’re just trying to be more prepared this year and not come out sluggish in Game one with all this time off that we have.”

If Edwards gets it done and caps it off with a ring, it’s a championship run that would arguably surpass Dirk Nowitzki’s in 2011 in terms of prowess.

Prediction

My prediction? Oklahoma City in six games. SGA has been the most consistent performer in the NBA this season and I’m confident in Mark Daigenault’s ability to scheme against Edwards, Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle. Especially given the crucial on-the-fly adjustment he made in game seven against Denver, moving Alex Caruso onto Jokic and effectively handicapping the 3-time MVP. It was a necessary reminder that the Thunder aren’t just a juggernaut on both ends of the floor but they also have one in the coach’s chair. That’s a championship team.