NBA conference finals takeaways: Wolves rebound, demolish Thunder in Game 3 rout

The 2025 NBA conference finals have tipped off, with four teams fighting for a spot in the Finals.

The No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder took a commanding 2-0 series lead after defeating the No. 6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves in Games 1 and 2. But the Wolves, back in Target Center for Game 3, posted a dominating win against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Wolves behind Anthony Edwards' 30-point performance.

In the East, the No. 4 seed Indiana Pacers completed an improbable comeback against the No. 3 seed New York Knicks on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden after Tyrese Haliburton made a tying field goal at the buzzer of the fourth quarter to force OT. The Pacers then grabbed Game 2 behind Pascal Siakam's 39-point performance Friday to take a 2-0 lead in the series as they head back to Indiana.

As these elite teams face off, our NBA insiders break down their biggest takeaways from every matchup and what to watch for in both conference showdowns.

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Western Conference

(1) Oklahoma City Thunder lead (6) Minnesota Timberwolves 2-1

Game 3: Timberwolves 143, Thunder 101

Biggest takeaways for the Timberwolves:

Facing an 0-2 series deficit in the Western Conference finals with his team's third-quarter woes in Oklahoma City still fresh in his mind, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch presented a confident front before Game 3.

"We know what we have to do," Finch said. "We have to avoid the five-minute meltdown."

And the Wolves delivered.

As shaky as Minnesota looked during the Thunder's 17-2 run in the third quarter of Game 1 and OKC's 14-2 spurt in the third in Game 2, the Wolves made the Thunder look just as vulnerable virtually all night Saturday.

Minnesota led by 20 after the first quarter, 31 at halftime and 37 heading into the fourth before Thunder coach Mark Daigneault metaphorically waved the white flag (to match the sea of white T-shirts in the stands at Target Center) and pulled his starters.

Anthony Edwards (30 points on 12-for-17 shooting, 9 rebounds, 6 assists) single-handedly outscored the Thunder 16-14 in the opening frame, and the onslaught continued from there.

While Edwards rested to start the second quarter, Finch switched up his rotation by putting in rookie forward Terrence Shannon Jr. He immediately delivered with nine points in four minutes to extend Minnesota's cushion -- and smashed Shane Heal's Wolves franchise record for points off the bench by a rookie in a postseason game (six on April 24, 1997, against Houston) by finishing with 15 on 5-for-8 shooting.

The Wolves flipped the script on almost everything that plagued them to start the series. They won the turnover battle, with just 10 miscues, compared to 15 for the Thunder. They found their range, shooting 20-for-40 from deep (50%) after going 26-for-90 on the road (28.8%). And Julius Randle, benched in the fourth quarter of Game 2 while struggling through a 2-for-11 shooting night, sat out the fourth quarter again Saturday with the win already in hand, thanks in part to his 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting.

Finch's confidence figures to be even greater going into Monday's Game 4. -- Dave McMenamin

Biggest takeaways for the Thunder:

The Thunder got punched in the mouth and never recovered. This was the worst performance of the season for Oklahoma City. Compared to the Thunder's 29-point deficit rally in their Game 3 against the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma never seemed to generate any hope against the Wolves in Target Center. Coach Mark Daigneault pulled the plug with more than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, when the Timberwolves led by 40. SGA's 14 points were his lowest total in any game this season -- and still led OKC in this disappointing loss. -- Tim MacMahon

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1:18

Ant is 'super happy' after Wolves' big Game 3 win

Anthony Edwards expresses his emotions after helping the Timberwolves climb back into the series against the Thunder.

Game 4: Thunder at Timberwolves (Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

What to watch:

Will we ever get to see a close game in the Western Conference finals?

Through three games, the average margin of victory is 28 points; in the closest contest, Oklahoma City led by 22 after three quarters and won by 15. A combination of turnovers, cold shooting by the road team and home-court momentum has pushed all three games to blowouts, and Game 3 was the biggest one yet.

Game 4 should offer a prime opportunity for increased competitiveness. Humbled by their Game 3 shellacking, in which they came out flat and sloppy and paid the price, the Thunder should be more engaged, while the Timberwolves can hope to ride the Target Center crowd to another up-tempo win and a series tie.

One trend worth monitoring is whether home cooking continues to help Minnesota's shooters while harming Oklahoma City's. After making 20 of 40 3-point attempts Saturday, the Timberwolves are shooting 39% from distance at home in the playoffs, versus 32% on the road. (In the regular season, it was much more even: 38% at home and 37% on the road.)

Meanwhile, the Thunder have connected on just 27% of their 3-point attempts on the road in the postseason, versus 36% at home.

Shooting luck isn't the only reason that Minnesota romped in Game 3; the Timberwolves were superior in every facet of the game. But if that luck regresses to the norm in Game 4, we might finally be in for a tense Western Conference finals contest, rather than another blowout. -- Zach Kram

Eastern Conference

(4) Indiana Pacers lead (3) New York Knicks 2-0

Game 2: Pacers 114, Knicks 109

And this is why you can't blow a 17-point fourth-quarter lead.

The Knicks should've come into Game 2 with a series lead. Instead, they trailed -- and they couldn't afford a bad performance.

But that's exactly what happened. Pascal Siakam took over for the Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton got hot in the second half, and Indiana, for a second straight series, took a 2-0 lead on the road. The Pacers are in a solid position to return to the NBA Finals for the first time in a quarter century.

In the entire second half, the Knicks were unable to get a stop. Coach Tom Thibodeau left Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench for most of the fourth quarter as a result, but the defense still didn't improve. And New York's starting lineup got worked by the Pacers for the second straight game.

Indiana, meanwhile, got a sensational game from Siakam, who scored almost half of the Pacers' points in the first half and wound up with 39 on 15-for-23 shooting. It was the kind of performance that can swing a series, especially on the road.

And it was exactly the kind of performance Indiana hoped to get from Siakam, who has gone for 26 and 10 in a closeout game to win an NBA title, when the Pacers acquired him from the Toronto Raptors last season.

The Pacers now carry the momentum to the league's championship round, and New York's season is on the brink of ending. -- Tim Bontemps

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2:01

Pascal Siakam drops 39 in Pacers' Game 2 win

Pascal Siakam goes off for a playoff career-high 39 points to power the Pacers to a 2-0 series lead vs. the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals.

Biggest takeaways for the Pacers:

Even after the Pacers stole Game 1 with an improbable victory, coach Rick Carlisle was quick to remind everyone that the job was not finished. And Indiana was not satisfied with just one win in New York. Just like it did to start the second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana went on the road and began the series with back-to-back wins, jumping to a 2-0 lead as the series shifts back to Indy.

Siakam set the tone, scoring the Pacers' first 11 points and finishing the first quarter with 17. Siakam's 39 points were a playoff career high, and Indiana had six players finish in double figures for the kind of backbreaking win Indiana has made routine during this postseason run. The Pacers are 6-1 on the road this postseason. -- Jamal Collier

Biggest takeaways for the Knicks:

The Knicks, now desperate and in a 2-0 series hole, had a fantastic thing going with backup center Mitchell Robinson early. But Game 2 indicated that there might be limitations on how much he can keep up with the pace in this series.

Robinson, who has the Knicks' second-best plus-minus this postseason (trailing only backup guard Deuce McBride), has consistently been a bright spot; so much so that opposing clubs have made a point to hack him and force the poor-shooting big man to the line.

He was that good again Friday, hammering the Pacers on the glass and repeatedly giving the Knicks second chances. Thibodeau used Robinson for 16 minutes straight at one point in the first half -- a long stint, considering Robinson has averaged just 20 in the playoffs. (He finished tied with a team-best plus-6 Friday.)

But on a night when All-NBA center Towns was struggling to defend in space, Thibodeau stuck with Robinson down the stretch. Just one problem: After a massive block on Haliburton that electrified the Garden, Robinson, who has long struggled with injuries and missed the first 60 games this season rehabbing, looked as if he might've rolled his ankle. One key offensive rebound notwithstanding, he didn't look the same after that play with 7:41 left.

The 29 minutes Robinson played were the second most he has played all season. But more than anything, it might be the Pacers' unrelenting tempo that's tough for him in this series, one that the Knicks desperately need him for. -- Chris Herring

Game 3: Knicks at Pacers (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET, TNT)

What to watch:

This one's simple: No NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, so the Knicks face a must-win in Indiana on Sunday. A victory, with so much urgency on their side, is doable. In the second round, Cleveland and Boston won Game 3 on the road after dropping the first two games at home. Of course, the Cavaliers and Celtics went on to lose those series, but that's a problem for next week. The Knicks need to win Game 3 first.

The good news for the Knicks, if any exists, is that the first two games in the series have been remarkably even. This isn't like the 2-0 advantage in the Western Conference finals, where the Thunder are running roughshod over the Timberwolves; the Knicks lost Game 1 in overtime and had a chance to tie the score in Game 2 in the final seconds. If a couple of shots had bounced off the rim differently over the past few nights in Madison Square Garden, the Knicks could be flying to Indiana ahead 2-0, or at the very least tied in the series.

One through line is that neither team can stop the other, which isn't a surprise, since both boasted top-10 offenses but only middling defenses in the regular season. That trend has carried over to the conference finals, where Indiana and New York have offensive ratings higher than 120. The most encouraging sign for the Knicks as they contemplate a comeback is that the Pacers still haven't exhibited any ability to shut down Jalen Brunson, who has 79 points on 28-for-52 shooting (54%) through two games.

If Brunson can maintain that efficiency while the Knicks and Tom Thibodeau figure out any semblance of a strategy to slow the Pacers' high-octane attack, then New York still has a chance to reach the Finals. But the odds aren't in their favor after a disappointing set of games at the Garden. -- Zach Kram