puis dans la liste qui s’affiche, cliquez sur AdBlock
Par Joël Pütz | Journaliste sportif
Although having been dominant in the first two games of the conference finals, the Thunder suffered a terrible thrashing in Game 3. A complete wreck that Chet Holmgren explained very simply, in regard to Rudy Gobert’s gang.
They hadn’t really accustomed us to that, lately. Since the start of the 2024-25 season, the Thunder has made a habit out of inflicting blowouts on their opponents. The squad led by Mark Daigneault steamrolled on the field, finishing with the best record in the league but also the most wins by more than fifteen points in a regular season. That’s how dominant they were.
It’s safe to say that said dominance has kept on prevailing since the start of the playoffs. While the series against the Nuggets was a close one, OKC easily dispatched the Grizzlies in the first round, and the first two games of the conference finals turned into easy wins against the Timberwolves. But that was before the franchise traveled to Minnesota for Game 3…
Chet Holmgren’s simple analysis after the Game 3 beating
With the help of a decisive and lauded Rudy Gobert, the hosts inflicted the Thunder’s worst playoff defeat in history (143-101). There was simply no match between the two teams, with Minnesota having fun on both sides of the court against the favorite in the West. Chet Holmgren was very honest about how the match unfolded after the final whistle:
It’s not complicated. Wherever they wanted to go, they got there. They did what they wanted to do. We didn’t stop them.
Put like that, it actually does sound very straightforward. New MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, for his part, also kept his analysis nice and simple, stating that the only thing to do now is to prevent such a scenario from happening again in Game 4:
It just happens, you’re never going to be perfect in life, in a long season. You get punched, it’s about getting back up, it’s about responding, and that’s what the next challenge is. We got punched in the mouth today, and next game we’re either gonna get back up or not, and we’ll lose a game, but we have a decision to make, for sure.
For now, OKC still has a one-win lead in the series. So the situation is far from catastrophic, and as Holmgren explained, the Wolves managed to check every single box in their playbook in the previous game. Which means SGA & co. also know how to prevent that… More than ever, the next match will be decided by the tactical adjustments made by both franchises.
