Tip-off: Friday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: N/A, Total: N/A

Can Minnesota beat OKC for the third time this season?

Last Wednesday, the Thunder seemed to make a breakthrough. In the most anticipated game of the young season, Kevin Durant's return to town, Oklahoma City made easy work of the heavily favored Warriors in a 108-91 victory. It took a vintage Westbrook performance, who posted a 34-10-9 line in between jawing with KD. Anthony and George played perfect complementary roles, scoring 22 and 20, respectively, while George grabbed 11 boards and added four steals and two blocks on defense. Two nights later, the team lost by one to Detroit, a forgivable letdown loss to a surprisingly good team after such a big win on Wednesday. But another loss the next night, a 97-81 dud against a dismal Mavericks squad, was inexcusable. George laid an egg in the scoring department, notching two points on 1-of-12 shooting in 40 minutes on the court. So what's the issue in Oklahoma City? Seemingly, the same lack of creativity that yielded the my-turn-your-turn offensive approach during the Durant era has returned to Billy Donovan's coaching arsenal, after a single year in which Donovan let Westbrook try out a my-turn-my-turn strategy. The Thunder don't move the ball, instead opting for isos for one of their three stars—usually Westbrook. While the post-OKC success of players like Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Enes Kanter have painted Westbrook's ball-hoggery in an especially unflattering light, the lack of open looks for Melo and George was all the evidence we needed. If the Thunder want to optimize their talent, the stars involved need to learn to move away from the ball.

While dropping 119 points on the Suns isn't an unusual achievement, the Wolves offense did look like the best possible version of itself in doing so in a win on Sunday afternoon. Butler had 25 points, C Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 and 12 rebounds, and SF Andrew Wiggins pitched in 21. Each of Wiggins and Towns has taken a turn as hero against the Thunder so far this season, with Wiggins hitting a deep buzzer-beater to win the first matchup and Towns posting a dominant 33-19 line—with four blocks—to lead his team to victory less than a week later. Towns entered the week averaging 20.9 PPG, a number whose significant dip from last season (25.1) shows that this offensive has balanced out in the way that was hoped. His poor defense, however, has been a talking point all season long. He obviously has the physical tools, but he needs to improve his positioning and his tendency to chase blocks at the expense of solid help defense. Wiggins, on the other hand, is becoming the fantastic perimeter defender that many projected him to be coming out of Kansas. It's important to remember just how young this team is—Wiggins is only 22 in his fourth season—and to count out further development for Towns or anyone else would be foolish. Teague missed recent games against Miami and Phoenix with a sore Achilles, opening the door for PG Tyus Jones to step into the lineup. He had seven steals and seven assists in 39 minutes against the Suns. PF Taj Gibson, who finished last season with the Thunder, had 16 points and 14 rebounds.