The Minnesota Timberwolves were flat in the opening round of the Western Conference Finals.
Oklahoma City’s Thunder won the Minnesota Timber Wolves 114-88, winning Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
Julius Randle (28 points) and Anthony Edwards (18 points) were Minnesota’s biggest contributors, with no one else able to reach double digits.
There were some overwhelming performances, with Rudy Gobert scoring only two points, but after the game was Naz Reid, the player singled out due to criticism from Bill Simmons.
With Rudy Gobert ineffective, Timberwolves needed a big game from Naz Reid. That didn’t happen.
Reid’s shooting was heinous, going from just 1-11 and 3-point range to 0-7. His shot map shows how ineffective he is.
He managed eight rebounds and four assists, but a 4-point tally of a 28-minute lead registered him a rating of -21.
Bill Simmons of Ringer called out Naz Reid on his podcast.
He said:
“When Randle went out like when they were really hot, I think it was like February range and he was like 20-25 a night.
“And today he was 1-11.
Earlier this year, Simmons tackled Reid’s plans to hit free agency in the summer, declaring that the Timberwolves could not keep him in a string of strong performances.
In the playoffs, the lead averages 10.4 points per game from a shooting percentage of 47.7, but his last four games are all single digits.
Simmons podcast Guest Naz Reid pushed back criticism, but it’s been a while since the Timberwolves star was really shocking.
He said: “You said that about Naz Reid, but that seemed a bit unfair to me. In my head, I thought, ‘He has a pretty good game’ and I’m turning around, looking back at the last three games against Golden State, all single digits.
“The first two were 30 pairings against the Lakers, then two single digit games. It’s a really good game one.
With 48 hours between games, the Minnesota Timber Wolves have a simple turnaround to try to tie the series together in Game 2.
And they need better production across the team, not just Naz Reid, a broader symptom of OKC’s dominance that surprised Anthony Edwards.