The Oklahoma City Thunder With the German basketball professional Isaiah Hartenstein, with a clear victory in the Conference finals the NBA started.
The title favorite made them Minnesota Timberwolves with 114: 88 and took the lead 1-0 in the best-of-Seven series. Hartenstein came to twelve points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.
Had Minnesota led 48:44 at halftime, Hartenstein and Co. turned up in the third quarter. A 10: 0 run put “OKC” in the lead with 66:60, overall the hosts won the section 32:18 and laid the foundation for success. Game two of the Western Conference Finals is again in Oklahoma City in the night of Friday.
| Game | OKC – Timbervolves | series |
|---|---|---|
1 | 114 – 88 | 1: 0 |
2 | May 23* | |
3 | May 25th | |
4 | May 27th |
* Date refers to MESZ, local time is one day earlier
Hartenstein: “Play on the next level”
“In the second half, our offense got rolling. At the beginning we got the litters that we want, we just didn’t do them. A few basketers went wrong. When our offense was found, we lifted our game to the next level”said Hartenstein, whose team only two days in advance Denver nuggets had switched off in game seven of the quarter-final series.
Top scorer in game one was Thunder superstar and MVP-Clidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who laid out 20 of his 31 points in the second half. Minnesota’s exceptional entrepreneur Anthony Edwards got a weak evening, scored only 18 points and hit five of his 13 throws out of the field. Julius Randle was the best thrower of the Timberwolves with 28 points.
Knicks against Pacers in the east
The winner in the west meets the final series either Indiana Pacers or the New York Knicks From the east.
| Game | New York Knicks – Indiana Pacers | series |
|---|---|---|
1 | May 22nd* | 0: 0 |
2 | May 24th | |
3 | May 26th | |
4 | May 28th |
* Date refers to MESZ, local time is one day earlier