Oklahoma City Thunder advance to the NBA Finals as the Minnesota Timberwolves bow out for the second straight season

The Oklahoma City Thunder advances to the NBA finals for the first time since 2012 after crushing the dreams of the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shined once again, leading the team to victory with an individual score of 34 points. The final scores of Game 5 stand at 124-94.

With this win, the Oklahoma City Thunder becomes the first team to emerge out of the conference finals to secure a spot in the 2025 NBA Finals. The Timberwolves exit the conference finals for the second consecutive time after a disappointing loss.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the Oklahoma City Thunder to NBA finals, Julius Randle scores Minnesota Timberwolves' team highest

Having lifted the Oscar Robertson Trophy in the conference finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder is just 4 victories away from securing their championship trophy in the NBA finals.

The team’s lone NBA title was last secured in the year 1979 when they were still known as the Seattle SuperSonics. Post the renaming of the team, the Thunder entered the finals last in 2012 but lost the NBA title to Miami in five games. Game 5 of the conference finals saw an extraordinary performance by the Thunder as they proceeded to dominate the match since the first quarter. Alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been announced as the conference finals MVP, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams also added to the team’s soaring high score with individual points of 22 and 19, respectively.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s stunning performance landed him in the seventh game in the last eight to have scored at least 30 points.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, despite the trade-off between Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle, once again exited the conference finals after losing to the Dallas Mavericks last year. The Mavericks, too, won the conference finals with a final standing of 4-1 against the Timberwolves. Despite an impressive playoff performance in the 2025 season, the Timberwolves could not prove themselves worthy of the finals.

Randle scored the team's high with 24 points, followed by the All-NBA team star Anthony Edwards, who managed to gather 19 points on an individual level.Also read: “Don’t come back too fast”- Jayson Tatum gets advice from NBA legend as he undergoes surgery for torn AchillesThe NBA Finals Game 1 has been scheduled for June 5, 2025, and the Thunder will be facing the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. Up until now, the Indiana Pacers are leading by a 3-1 standing, and the teams will face each other for Game 5 on May 29, 2025.