Timberwolves vs. Thunder Game 5 prediction: NBA Western Conference finals odds, picks
Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards for more information.
The offenses in the NBA Western Conference finals are clicking on all cylinders.
On Monday night, the Thunder and Timberwolves combined for 254 points in a thrilling Game 4, which was the third-most of the 2025 playoffs.
Oklahoma City has been scoring at will throughout this series, but it appears Minnesota has figured something out on the offensive end as well.
The Timberwolves' 143- and 126-point performances in Games 3 and 4, respectively, are the highest they've had spanning this and last year's postseason runs, including back-to-back conference finals trips.
Oklahoma City's defense is a juggernaut, but its defense will need to right the ship a bit in this one as well.
The Thunder have scored at least 114 points in every game aside from their dud in Game 3, and are averaging more than 115 points per game in the series.
If we're targeting the total, the Wolves are the team to be worried about.
But it appears that the light bulb clicked on after scoring just 191 points combined through the first two games of the series.
Anthony Edwards will need a big Game 5 to keep Minnesota alive.
NBAE via Getty Images
Over the past two games, the Wolves have dominated the league-best Thunder defense.
In their Game 3 win Minnesota came out swinging and didn't let up, dropping 143 points.
Betting on the NBA?
That offensive success continued in Game 4 with 126 points, albeit in a loss.
Their 3-point shooting has been the difference, averaging an excellent 46.9 percent from deep over those two games.
Reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could be headed to an NBA FInals berth with a win Wednesday.
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
We can't expect the Timberwolves' offense to hum on quite that level, but I think we've hit the point in the series where both teams know what they want to do on the offensive end.
The total is sitting around 216.5 at most major sportsbooks — these teams have hit the over on this number in three straight games, let's see if they can make it four.
The play: Thunder-Timberwolves Over 216.5 points (-110, BetMGM)
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He's particularly knowledgeable about the big three — MLB, the NFL and the NBA.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NBA Trade Rumors Roundup: Latest Kevin Durant trade rumors, Lakers search for center, more
With the NBA Finals going seven games, don't bet on a resolution to the Kevin Durant trade circus before Monday — the league does not want a trade upstaging Game 7. Not that a deal was imminent anyway, but with the NBA Draft on Wednesday, it's becoming a small window. Let's get into the latest trade buzz, starting with the latest on Durant. Kevin Durant trade latest Let's break down all the KD news via bullet points. Advertisement • "Game of Chicken" between Suns, Durant suitors. The Phoenix Suns are not going to trade Durant away for a lowball offer. They know they aren't going to get back what they gave up to get him, but they still expect a quality return. The teams Durant wants to go to — the Rockets, Heat, and Spurs — have yet to meet that threshold. ESPN's Shams Charania summed it up well as a "game of chicken." "I had one team tell me today it's kinda a game of chicken at this point. From the Houston Rockets to the Miami Heat to the Minnesota Timberwolves, it's literally one or two pieces away, either which way, that can get a deal done. ... My understanding is they are in talks with those three teams specifically." Along the same lines, the Rockets are betting that the price the Suns are asking for Durant will drop, reports ESPN's Brian Windhorst. This is how negotiations work. The question is, who blinks? Or does something else change that breaks the deadlock? Advertisement • Does Durant want Timberwolves? Minnesota is one of those teams mentioned to be in talks with Phoenix, but it's not one of the teams on Durant's original list of preferred landing spots. Therein lies the conflict in getting a deal done, report Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line. "[The Timberwolves] are said to be reluctant to go ahead with a trade unless they know Durant would embrace it." By all accounts, Durant has no interest in the Timberwolves. Would Minnesota follow the path Toronto did with Kawhi Leonard and roll the dice on trading for him and hope he stays (Leonard didn't)? Minnesota seems unlikely to take that risk, considering their roster has made the Western Conference Finals consecutive years, but nothing is settled. • Grizzlies not pursuing Durant. Memphis landed four first-round picks in the Desmond Bane trade, which led to some speculation that they might try to flip those and insert themselves into the Durant sweepstakes. Advertisement That's not happening, reports Fischer and Stein, which seems somewhat obvious. I feel like the Grizzlies saying they are not in the running for Durant is a lot like me saying I am taking myself out of the running to date Sabrina Carpenter. Still, the rumor persisted. Along those same lines, forget the rumors that the Grizzlies are going to trade Ja Morant or Jaren Jackson Jr. and rebuild. As previously reported here, league sources shot that idea down to NBC Sports. Or, take Morant's word for it. DeRozan becomes Durant fallback? There will be losers in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes, and Stein and Fischer suggested that some of those teams could turn their attention to Sacramento's DeMar DeRozan, who is considered available. DeRozan will be 36 next season, but is still a midrange assassin who averaged 22.2 points and 4.4 assists per game last season. Advertisement If the Kings trade DeRozan in the coming days, it will likely be for a draft pick (and matching salary). They do not currently have a first-round pick, but are reportedly seeking one. Lakers talking to teams about centers The Buss family selling the Lakers: Surprise. The Lakers are reaching out to other teams about their centers: Opposite of a surprise. The worst-kept secret in the league is the Lakers looking for a rim-running center, so it's no surprise that Anthony Irwin of Clutch Points reports the Lakers have reached out to the Nets about Nic Claxton, the Jazz about Walker Kessler, and the Trail Blazers about Robert Williams III. All three of them have been linked to the Lakers in the past and are rumored to be available — as is another Lakers' target (and the best fit of that group), Daniel Gafford of Dallas — but because everyone knows the Lakers need a five other GMs are going to ask for the moon. Advertisement Expect this to take some time to play out. The Lakers can keep the idea of signing Clint Capela or Brook Lopez to the taxpayer midlevel exception in their back pocket, but they should aim higher. 76ers want to move up from No. 3 pick in draft A report came out this week that the 76ers plan to run it back next season with Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey, betting on better health. Of course they are, they don't have another choice. They are not going to trade the young Maxey. George is close to untradeable, considering his contract and his play last season, and the market for Embiid would not be what they hope for, either. Daryl Morey is also hoping he could move up one spot — from No. 3 to No. 2 in the draft, reports Marc Stein. That rumor has been circulating for a while, but it would take something very enticing to persuade the Spurs to part with the second pick and Dylan Harper, and the 76ers don't have that on their roster. Advertisement Whatever happens with the No. 3 pick, don't expect it to be Ace Bailey, who is falling down draft boards around the league and cancelled a workout with Philadelphia. Bucks to be aggressive in upgrading roster The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade talk has tied down, and what Antetokounmpo told Brazilian publication Coast to Coast only seems to confirm that (translation by Eurohoops). "The Finals are different, I hope to be back soon with the Bucks." The Bucks were not close to making the Finals this season, and it's hard to picture how that changes next season with Damian Lillard out for most of it due to a torn Achilles. Still, they're going to try, reports Bobby Marks at ESPN. Advertisement "Sources confirmed to ESPN that Milwaukee will be aggressively exploring options in free agency and trades to complement Antetokounmpo." The Bucks have the money to use the full $14.1 million midlevel exception, but they don't have much cap room if they plan to re-sign backup center Bobby Portis (and with Brook Lopez a free agent, they are expected to). Milwaukee can try to find a trade for Kyle Kuzma, but the return there would not be great. That said, look for the Bucks to try and do something, they need to show Antetokounmpo they are trying.
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
6 biggest stories of 2025 WNBA season so far
The post 6 biggest stories of 2025 WNBA season so far appeared first on ClutchPoints. With the early weeks of the 2025 WNBA season playing out in the shadow of the NBA Playoffs, you can be forgiven if you're late tuning into the league. Advertisement That said, you've missed a lot. The New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx are seemingly on another Finals collision course, Caitlin Clark's disappointing injury has taken some early shine off the Indiana Fever — then she returned with a vengeance, the Golden State Valkyries are here, and the Atlanta Dream might be a good Finals sleeper pick. That's not all. As women's professional basketball continues to grow, the storylines are becoming even more captivating. Here's where we stand as we near one month into the season. The reigning champion Liberty might be even better this year John Jones-Imagn Images The Liberty went 32-8 last year for the second season in a row and finished things off with a five-game WNBA Finals win over the Lynx. They lost Courtney Vandersloot to free agency and Kayla Thornton to the Valkyries in the expansion draft, yet somehow they're even better. Advertisement Veteran Natasha Cloud will get the lion's share of the credit considering the starting guard is the most prominent newcomer — and she won Eastern Conference Player of the Week her first week with the team. But it's more than just her. Kennedy Burke is having her best season so far, emerging as a true knock-down shooter off the bench, while New York finally has Marine Johannès for a full season. Many of the returnees have been better as well, finding themselves in better position with the Liberty running a crisper five-out offense. Jonquel Jones is averaging a double-double and shooting 43 percent from three, while Breanna Stewart's per-game scoring is down slightly, but she's shooting a more efficient 53 percent from the field and taking fewer threes. Lynx' Napheesa Collier is having an MVP season Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images Napheesa Collier is one of those players you might assume has won an MVP at some point along the way, but she actually hasn't. That might soon change. In a career that was already on a Hall of Fame trajectory, Collier is having her best season yet for the Lynx. Advertisement Collier is leading the WNBA in scoring average by more than five points per game at 26.1 with Allisha Gray a distant second. On the other end, she's averaging career bests in steals and blocks. To illustrate just how dominant she's been, she tied A'ja Wilson for the fastest player to ever reach 150 points and 50 rebounds in a season, doing so in just six games. She has also joined Wilson and Aliyah Boston as the only players with multiple 20-point, 10-rebound double-doubles so far this season. Through it all, it should come as no surprise that the Lynx have the best record in the W. An injury sidelines Fever star Caitlin Clark If Caitlin Clark wakes up in the morning, fans want to know about it, so you could imagine their disappointment when a left quad strain put the Indiana Fever star on the sidelines for at least two weeks. Clark last played on May 24 against the Liberty, and after her injury, the Fever turned around and lost to bad Washington Mystics and Connecticut Sun teams back-to-back. Advertisement Before her injury, Clark was putting up numbers on par with what she did as a rookie (so, amazing numbers). She opened the season with a triple-double against the Chicago Sky and notched two more points-assists double-doubles in her next three games. Inefficiency and turnovers have still been a problem for Clark, but hey — she's a second-year player. She has room to improve and has shown every reason to believe she will. Clark finally returned over the weekend against the Liberty and her bonkers performance helped hand the defending champs their first loss of the season. She scored 32 points on seven made threes, highlighted by 25 points and six triples in the first half, with three of them coming in the span of 35 seconds. And just for fun, she added eight rebounds, nine assists and two blocks. No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers makes a major impact for the Wings Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images Paige Bueckers became the latest superstar to join the league when the Dallas Wings took her first overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft. She brought her massive following with her to the W, and in her first few weeks, her fans were not disappointed. Advertisement In her first six games, she filled the stat sheet to the tune of 14.7 points, 6.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game. Though the Wings struggled, she proved that her elite basketball IQ, court vision and moxie would translate seamlessly to the WNBA. The Bueckers experience went on temporary pause, however, after that. The rookie missed three games while in the league's concussion protocol, then an additional game with an illness. Like Clark, she made a statement in her return. Facing the Phoenix Mercury, Bueckers scored 35 points on 13-19 shooting and 5-7 shooting from three. The WNBA welcomes the Golden State Valkyries For the first time since 2008, the WNBA added a new team this season in the Golden State Valkyries. With a roster primarily made of players taken in the expansion draft (and veteran Tiffany Hayes), the team isn't expected to be great, but at 5-5, they've at least shown the ability to compete. Advertisement It doesn't matter too much. In their first season, it's all about the spectacle at Golden State, and the Valkyries are the hottest ticket in town. They've sold out every home game they've played, filling the 18,064-seat Chase Center four times. That gives them the highest average attendance in the WNBA, ahead of the Fever (16,719 per game) and defending champion Liberty (16,113). The Atlanta Dream are a sneaky Liberty-Lynx alternative Last year's finalists, the Liberty and Lynx, could certainly meet in the WNBA Finals once again. But if they don't, the Atlanta Dream could be the team to usurp one of them. Gray is having the best year of her career so far, putting up 21.0 points per game on 42 percent three-point shooting. With Rhyne Howard as productive as ever by her side, the Dream have as powerful a 1-2 punch in the backcourt as you could ask for. The Dream also added newcomers Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones, a pair of perennial All-Stars in the front court. The two are combining to average better than 23 points and 14 rebounds per game for a team that reached the playoffs last year before the Liberty quickly dispatched of them. Advertisement To be fair, with the exception of a win over the Fever, the Dream haven't exactly beaten a WNBA gauntlet. But they are undeniably improved and have the star power to compete with the best. Related: WNBA honors greats with Women's Hall of Fame induction Related: WNBA exposed for excluding players from media rights deal
New York Post
44 minutes ago
- New York Post
Plucky Pacers keep raising bar for Knicks' coaching search with what-ifs stinging even more
We knew the Knicks were fairly close under Tom Thibodeau. But this close? Nope. With each day the NBA Finals were extended by those plucky Pacers, the bar shifted upward for the Knicks front office and their next coach. Advertisement Because in retrospect, the Pacers, who eliminated the Knicks in the conference finals, are better than we imagined. They've pushed the Thunder to the brink after most inside the NBA atmosphere — from pundits to talent evaluators to players — believed Indiana to be vastly inferior. The Thunder, after all, steamrolled the NBA to this point (except for the Nuggets), winning 68 games in the regular season before going 12-4 in the Western Conference playoff bracket. They have the MVP, the league's best defense, the advantage of youth and depth. They were supposed to pummel the Pacers with these tools, but Game 7 is now booked for Sunday because Indy curb stomped OKC in Thursday night's Game 6, 108-91. It'll be the first Game 7 of the NBA Finals since a 73-win team from Golden State was stunned at home by Kyrie Irving and LeBron James in 2016.
