Haymakers for dinner, yawns for dessert

Good morning. The NBA really needs to fix the free throw parade at the end of games. The most exciting point in the game shouldn't also be the most boring. Let's basketball.

Game 4 of Thunder vs. Timberwolves was awesome. Oklahoma City played sensational defense on Anthony Edwards, limiting him to two field goal attempts in the first half by swarming him every time he touched the ball. He made the right calls consistently to get the Wolves an advantage, with Minnesota shooting 18/41 (44%) from deep. Donte DiVincenzo and Nickeil Alexander-Walker each hit five threes off the bench, largely but not exclusively thanks to all the attention Edwards drew. Minnesota trying to claw points from the superb OKC defense was fascinating to watch.

Ant made a concerted effort to look for his own shot more frequently in the second half, which helped keep Minnesota close and resulted in more turnovers, which the Wolves could ill-afford. They committed 21 of those, a big factor in their inability to overcome the Thunder.

Another factor: OKC's excellent offensive rebounding. Actually, both teams hit the offensive glass hard, registering 19 each.

Another factor: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (40-9-10) and Jalen Williams (34 on 67% eFG) were hitting every shot you'd expect them to hit despite lots of defensive attention. Williams hit the biggest shot of the game, a left wing triple to put OKC up seven with 1:21 to go as Jaden McDaniels cheated way too far off of JDub to help NAW on SGA. Shai targeted Rudy Gobert a bunch, and the Stifle Tower actually did a nice job challenging without fouling ... but even when SGA missed, Rudy was too far from the rim to help rebound, and Gobert's teammates didn't do nearly a good enough job helping. (Julius Randle was as ineffective overall in this game as he was in Game 2.)

Offensive rebounds lead to exciting basketball. Turnovers lead to exciting basketball. Shotmaking is exciting. High-pressure defense is exciting.

You know what's not exciting?

Free throws.