The Minnesota Timberwolves did find a fraction of satisfaction in their Game 2 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Anthony Edwards bounced back from his slump and torched the Thunder’s high-pressure defense for 32 points. However, the same dilemma played out. While Edwards popped off, the Thunder hounded Julius Randle following his sublime performance in Game 1. The former Knicks forward was held to his lowest scoring playoff game this season.

Randle was practically rendered obsolete tonight by the Thunder’s rabid defense. The former All-Star scored just 6 points, shooting a measly 18.2% from the field. It was demoralizing for the Timberwolves, who were able to compete unlike their Game 1 struggles. But with the Julius Randle threat taken away, they didn’t have enough to counter OKC’s fluent offense.

His performance was frustrating to himself. After being a flaming force for the Wolves, Randle is arguably aware that his struggles cost the Timberwolves. So, how does he react? It seems Randle is itching to make things right. His teammate Nickeil Alexander-Walker assured the reporters of his mindset.

“I know he is going to come in and work. As a competitor, his blood is boiling. He is going to come back next game ready to go. We’re going to be at home and having the comfort of sleeping in our own beds and having the opportunity to play in front of our home crowd,” he said about Randle’s reaction.

Julius Randle had been on a hot streak prior to Game 2 tonight. He had five straight games with 20+ points, having high efficiency in most of those games. Likewise, after a night of embarrassment as such, Randle will surely be fired up. The Wolves too are on edge and need to win both games at home to make the series competitive.

And if Randle didn’t have enough to be fired up for their return to Minnesota, Chris Finch’s questionable decision may push him over the cliff after all.

Chris Finch justifies his late-game Julius Randle decision

With the Timberwolves fighting for a way back and Randle struggling, Chris Finch had to make a huge decision. He wanted to trigger the Wolves’ scoring, hence in the final quarter, he sought to experiment. For the entire duration, Julius Randle, who was their best player last game, didn’t play a single minute.

It was after the game that the Timberwolves’ head coach explained his decision.

“Just wanted to try to see if I could spread the floor and get some quick decision-making out there… Just trying to change the complexion of the game,” Chris Finch said about his decision to bench Randle in the fourth quarter.

In order to space the floor, Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker featured for the majority of the quarter. As disrespectful as it may have seemed to be for Randle, the decision actually paid off. The Wolves outscored the Thunder 32-25 in the fourth quarter. Before that, they didn’t score over 25 points in either of the three quarters.

Obviously, this isn’t going to be a regular fourth-quarter lineup that Finch opts for. After the Thunder blew the game open in the third, the Timberwolves required a heavy shooting lineup in the hopes of making a comeback. They didn’t do so particularly well, only hitting two of their nine threes. But it did help them find some form of success in a game that quickly went out of their reach.

Maybe it gave Finch some key intel on how they can tackle the Thunder’s swarming defense. Because let’s face it, so far, they have managed to curb the Timberwolves’ offense heavily. Can the wave of home support change that? Minnesota will hope so.