Oklahoma City Thunder aim to close out Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of Western Finals

OKLAHOMA CITY – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander admits it is hard not to look forward.

But the Oklahoma City star says the lessons of Game 3 will help the Thunder when they try to put the Minnesota Timberwolves away at home in Game 5 of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Western Conference Finals on May 28 (May 29, Singapore time).

“It’s tough,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, of trying not to look at what could lie ahead if Oklahoma City can win.

“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t. You know how close you are, but yet it’s still so far away. To beat a team like this, it takes a lot of hard minutes doing the right thing a lot of the time.”

Up 3-1 in the series, the Thunder are a win away from their first NBA Finals berth since 2012.

Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said he is confident in his team’s ability to focus on the task at hand.

“It’s hard to stay present,” he said. “It’s easy to slip into the past or slip into the future, but we’ve tried to do a good job of grounding into the moment and just handling the next challenge in front of us, the next game in front of us.”

After a 42-point road defeat in Game 3, the Thunder came back to win 128-126 in Minneapolis to put the Timberwolves on the brink of elimination.

If Minnesota are to stay alive, they will need more production out of Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle.

The duo were a combined six of 20 from the field for 21 points in the Game 4 loss after going 21-for-32 for 54 points in the 143-101 Game 3 win.

“We’ve faced this and gone through these periods before,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “We know we’ve got to stretch the floor, create more depth in transition, get those guys to the bottom of the floor for a variety of reasons. Should be a pretty easy adjustment, you’ve just got to put the effort in.

“We need to do a better job of getting more out of our first unit.”

Meanwhile, on May 27, Tyrese Haliburton delivered his second career play-off triple-double to power Indiana to a 130-121 win over the New York Knicks, lifting the Pacers to within one win of the NBA Finals.

He tallied 32 points, 15 assists and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds while making no turnovers in 38 minutes, becoming the first player in NBA play-off history with 30-15-10 and no turnovers.

Indiana seized a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals with the home triumph. REUTERS, AFP

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