Timberwolves, Thunder clash as top teams in West

Two of the top-performing teams in the Western Conference will meet when the Minnesota Timberwolves host the Oklahoma City Thunder in an NBA in-season tournament contest Tuesday night in Minneapolis.

Minnesota has won 12 of its first 16 games to jump to the top of the conference standings. That includes a 2-1 record in West Group C of the in-season tournament.

Oklahoma City has won 11 of its first 16 games to slide into second place. The Thunder are 1-2 in Group C and have been eliminated from advancing.

The Timberwolves' rise is due in large part to an improved defense. Minnesota is allowing 106.4 points per game, which was third-lowest in the league entering play Monday, and limiting opponents to 43.1 percent shooting from the field, best in the NBA.

The big-man tandem of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns has helped to prevent opponents from getting easy baskets. Jaden McDaniels provided elite point-of-attack defense before a recent ankle injury forced him out of action.

Gobert said a year-plus of hard work in practice has led to the team's better defense.

"I told them before this season, we could be the top defense this year," said Gobert, who is in his second season with the Timberwolves. "Keep trusting me, and I'm trusting you, too."

Minnesota coach Chris Finch has enjoyed tailoring the defense to his team's personnel.

"I've always had the approach with the offensive players that you've got to give them great freedom, and several years ago it struck me before I became coach here, ‘Why don't we do the same with defensive players?'" Finch said. "You have to give those players an incredible amount of freedom to be able to navigate a lot of situations in the league that they have to face against these guys every night."

The next challenge for Finch and the Timberwolves will be how to slow down the Thunder's dynamic offense. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Oklahoma City with 30.4 points per game on 53.4 percent shooting. Chet Holmgren (18.1 points per game) and Jalen Williams (17.5) also are putting up big numbers.

Williams has missed the past three games because of a hip injury but is scheduled to return against the Timberwolves.

Three other players are scoring in double digits for the Thunder: Josh Giddey (12.1), Isaiah Joe (11.1) and Luguentz Dort (10.7). Oklahoma City ranks fourth in the NBA with an average of 119.6 points per game.

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said he wanted to see a better performance after a disappointing 127-123 loss against the Philadelphia 76ers in his team's most recent game Saturday.

"I just thought we didn't have our best punch in terms of our physical output (and) mental," Daigneault said. "It certainly wasn't the best we could play.

"That hasn't been who we are to this point in the season."

The Timberwolves and Thunder played each other four times last season, with Minnesota posting a 3-1 record. The Timberwolves split the two games played at Minneapolis.

—Field Level Media