Trying to create a play, Chet Holmgren had the ball knocked away from his possession. Anthony Edwards added to Minnesota's monstrous turnover tally. He was rewarded for the play when he ran to the corner and knocked down the outside jumper in the final seconds of the third frame.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were straight-up bullied in a 123-111 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Trailing for the entire night, they looked as flat as day-old soda. The final score didn't tell the full story in a game they were behind by as many as 22 points.
Even with Isaiah Hartenstein back — albeit on a minutes restriction — the Thunder continue to struggle putting the ball through the hoop. As long as Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell remain out, expect the opposition to feel comfortable blitzing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Timberwolves' bet to dare the rest of OKC to beat them paid off. Meanwhile, they had a red-hot outside shooting night from the jump. Jaden McDaniels scored a 3-pointer to force the Thunder to call an early timeout. Bones Hyland joined in on the fun.
The Thunder were in a 34-22 deficit after the first quarter. Things only got worse from there. After Kenrich Williams forced a turnover, he immediately coughed it up. McDaniels made the corner attempt. OKC only had 28 points in the second frame. It entered halftime in a 63-50 deficit.
Even though it was only a 13-point deficit, it felt like 33. Eventually, reality caught up with the vibes. Donte DiVincenzo swished in an outside jumper. The Thunder were in an 84-65 hole with a little over five minutes left inthe third frame. They looked completely lifeless as poor shot attempts mixed with bad ball security made this one-sided.
The Thunder scored 30 points in the third quarter. But it didn't matter. They were in a 96-80 hole. The fourth quarter became mostly inconsequential. There were a couple of times where they made some decent runs, but Minnesota answered back.
Even with Gilgeous-Alexander's 30 points, it didn't matter. The Thunder eventually pulled the plug. They scored 31 points in the final frame to pretty up the margin, but the Timberwolves had them in a headlock for nearly three hours in another statement game.
The Thunder shot 48% from the field and went 11-of-31 (35.5%) from 3. They shot 18-of-20 on free throws. They had 27 assists on 41 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.
Gilgeous-Alexander had an efficient 30 points and eight assists. Holmgren finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Hartenstein had 11 points and five rebounds. Cason Wallace tallied 13 points. Aaron Wiggins finished with 10 points and five assists.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves shot 51% from the field and went 22-of-47 (46.8%) from 3. They shot 11-of-18 on free throws. They had 26 assists on 45 baskets. Six Timberwolves players scored double-digit points.
Edwards led the way with 26 points, five assists and five rebounds. McDaniels had 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Rudy Gobert tallied a 14-point and 11-rebound double-double. Naz Reid helped with 18 points and seven rebounds. Julius Randle had 13 points and five rebounds. DiVincenzo had 11 points.
Not much to say about this one. The Thunder have looked pretty pedestrian in their last month's worth of games. Seeing them lose like this has sadly become normalized. The reigning NBA champions might be the title favorite, but the gap from the rest of the field is thinner now than it was in November.
Going into Minnesota without a secondary scorer is a recipe for disaster. And that's what happened. Even if Gilgeous-Alexander does what he usually does, you can't win games one-on-five — especially against a contender like the Timberwolves. OKC continues to go along a difficult stretch without some of its key players. The injuries and lack of go-to scorers have exposed some weaknesses.
Let's look at Thunder player grades:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A
Dribbling the ball up, DiVincenzo caught Gilgeous-Alexander by surprise. The Minnesota role player shoved him out of balance. Fighting over the ball, the reigning MVP committed a rare turnover. A little trivial shove afterward cemented the tone — the home squad upped its physicality.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds. He shot 1-of-2 from 3 and went 5-of-5 on free throws. He also had one steal.
Even with Minnesota going all out to limit Gilgeous-Alexander, he still put up an efficient 30 points. Slicing his way through one of the league's best defenses, he managed to get to the rim with several circus finishes that showcased why he's one of the best drivers in league history.
While the Timberwolves tried to rock him off balance with hockey-esque physicality, it didn't matter. Gilgeous-Alexander got to his spots around the mid-range. No amount of shoves or jersey pulls could stop that. Such is the case in most of OKC's losses, the reigning MVP did more than enough to come away with the win. His supporting cast, though, not really.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 15 points in the third quarter. He tried his best to do a one-man carry job. But he barely made a dent in their deficit. You can't win an NBA game with just one guy who can go get their own bucket. And even when he set up his teammates with good looks, they couldn't cash in.
The last month's worth of middling basketball can be summed up there. After the Thunder became a win machine, they've nosedived in the advanced metrics. Gilgeous-Alexander has seen his teammates fail to show up too often. The sample size is large enough to at least bank it in the back of your mind in case they fall short in the playoffs.
He steals, he scores
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 30, 2026
Your @OGandE Power Play of the Game pic.twitter.com/HYVhqbF0bT
Chet Holmgren: D
Pump-faking from the perimeter, Holmgren opted for the one-on-one look against Randle. Dribbling his way into a postup, a desperate spin move resulted in another nasty miss. This time, he wasn't even able to get the ball in the air as Minnesota's possible second All-Star muscled it down for the vicious block.
Holmgren finished with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, five rebounds and two assists. He shot 1-of-2 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws. He also had three blocks and one steal.
Desperately needing someone else from the Thunder to step up, Holmgren couldn't. And if it's not him, then it won't be anybody else. Considering their injuries, they've needed him to scale up as a scorer on most nights. Over halfway through his fourth year, I think we can conclude that's just not something he can do.
The offense continues to go through peaks and valleys. This was a valley. Holmgren faded into the background. To the point that he scored most of his buckets on easy looks around the rim. While that's awesome for the efficiency, you needed a little bit more on-ball juice to keep up with Minnesota's hot shooting.
Instead, Holmgren couldn't accompany Gilgeous-Alexander as a high-octane scorer. And you quickly saw that cost the Thunder on the scoreboard. On the other end, you saw what happens when OKC isn't defending the rim at an otherworldly level as the game got out of hand within a blink.
At this point, this is who Holmgren is. Sometimes, he puts up an efficient 25 points. Other times — like tonight — the moment looks too big for him. Fully healthy, the Thunder can manage with that. But when their roster is depleted like it is right now, it rears its ugly head to the forefront of everybody's mind.
Served it right up to 7️⃣ pic.twitter.com/e6pKk1MVFE
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 30, 2026
Isaiah Hartenstein: C
Setting the flare screen for Gilgeous-Alexander, Hartenstein rolled to the basket. He caught the bounce pass and finished through Gobert's contest for the and-one layup. Welcome back. After a 16-game absence with his second soleus strain of the season, the Thunder get closer to being fully operational.
Hartenstein finished with 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting, five rebounds and two assists. He shot 5-of-6 on free throws.
Under a minute's restriction, Hartenstein came off the bench. The Thunder lost the rebounding battle, but it didn't even matter in this one. That said, he somewhat helped in that department as he crashed the glass and even caught a few second-chance looks.
Now that a huge piece of the puzzle is assembled back, the Thunder are close to playing their brand of basketball. Hartenstein helped them have an old-school center who can roll to the basket. The constant dunk threat is an element they've desperately missed over the last month.
Let's see how Hartenstein looks the rest of the way. And let's hope the soleus strain stuff is finally behind him. But it's good to see him back on the floor. If the Thunder want to go back-to-back, they need a fully-healthy version of him as he looked at the beginning of the year when he was an advanced stats darling.
Cason Wallace: F
Cutting to the basket as Edwards fell asleep, Wallace couldn't make Minnesota's defense pay for the mental mistake. Reid contested him just enough to force the missed driving layup as Williams threw the bounce pass his way.
Wallace finished with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting and one rebound. He shot 1-of-5 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws. He also had one steal.
When the perimeter defense isn't on another level, Wallace has struggled to help in other ways. The offensive development just hasn't progressed in the way you hope it would by his third season. If anything, it's been the opposite. To the point that you can argue he's regressed on that side of the ball
While Wallace had some clean drives to the basket, he was too quiet through the first three quarters when this game was still within reach. It's been the case all season, but he wasn't able to cash in on the outside looks he was gifted both by Gilgeous-Alexander's gravity and Minnesota's gameplan to leave him open.
While a lot of OKC's offensive woes should be fixed when Williams and Mitchell return, you're starting to see how fragile the infrastructure is when just a couple of guys are out. While by design, it's forced a lot of folks to pivot the other way and hope they made an outside addition to duct-tape some of it at the trade deadline.
Highlights:
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Player grades: Thunder look flat in 123-111 loss to Timberwolves