Timberwolves vs Thunder Western Conference Finals Game 2 Predictions | 2025 NBA Playoffs Best Bets

Timberwolves vs Thunder Western Conference Finals Game 2 Predictions | 2025 NBA Playoffs Best Bets

Game two, Western Conference Finals, Thursday night. Minnesota, Oklahoma City, side total player props, all coming up free for you right here, right now. Hi, this is Steve Merrill, wager talk.com, right back here on wageralk TV. I’ve done every NBA playoff game every day this postseason. I will continue to do so. All I ask is a thumbs up, like, and a positive comment below. And let’s keep it rolling here. Game two, Thursday night, 8:30 Eastern on ESPN. And it was looking pretty good early on for Minnesota. in game one on Tuesday night had a four-point outright halftime lead, but the wheels fell off in the second half. Third quarter, they got outscored by 14, down by 10 entering the fourth and then OKC opened it up. Couple things that jumped out to me about game one was obviously Minnesota played them tight early and they did have foul trouble. We’re going to talk about that with some player props here in a moment, but the big news is that Jaylen Williams was in foul trouble all game. Um, I’m sorry, no, McDaniels. I meant to say McDaniels had was in foul trouble all game uh for the Minnesota Timberwolves and he did foul out with six fouls, only played 23 and a half minutes, was never a factor, only took five shot attempts. Um, Anthony Edwards also had foul trouble for Minnesota. Four fouls overall, but he was limited a bit as well. 36 minutes, only 13 shot attempts. He had only 18 points. McDaniels had over only seven. Um, Jaylen Williams only had two fouls. I meant to say a Hartinstein. we’re going to talk about him in a moment, had some foul trouble with four and Dort had five fouls for OKC. So, fouls were an issue and SGA was somewhat getting his way and that’s going to be a problem if they’re calling the game the same the rest of the series and Minnesota’s in trouble. But, I don’t think they’re going to call it that way. Um, SGA needs to get to the hoop and I think Minnesota’s defense locks him down a little bit better here in game two. By the way, SGA finished with 31. He always hovers right around that number of 30 31 points it seems all season long. Uh Minnesota did get outplayed as I mentioned in the second half and it’s a little surprising because you would thought if anything Oklahoma City would have come out strong in the first half after the game seven momentum and then cooled off but it was the exact opposite. They turned it on the second half but they also were extremely strong from three-point range. They finished 11 for 21 52% from beyond the ark. Minnesota was just 15 for 51 29%. And so once again, a 52 to 29% three-point edge for OKC was the reason this game turned into a blowout along with the foul trouble. I think those things reverse here in game two. I told you going into the series, I thought Minnesota was a live dog and really nothing has changed from game one. The blowout loss has not made me change my opinion. I think this is an evenly matched series and we are definitely getting some value now with the Timberwolves if you want to slide in and take that adjusted series price uh anywhere from plus 450 to as high as 5 to1 right now. So, I do think Minnesota can win four of the next six and are alive dogs still in the series. And my colleague at wager talk.com, Brian Power, had a great stat earlier this week that over the last several years, the team that has played less games so far in the playoffs, better rested basically, has gone 19-1 in the Eastern and Western Conference Finals headed into this round this year. That would have favored both the Pacers and the Timberwolves. So, Minnesota is still a live dog and I think there’s some value now as high as 5 to1 on the adjusted series price. And obviously I think they’re a live dog here in game two as well on Thursday night. Currently the line opened eight. It’s down to seven and a half even some sevens out there. Um definitely could take a look at them on the money line. If they’re going to get back in the series, they probably need to win this one outright. Um they’re around plus 240 on the money line. So I do think the T- Wolves money line plus 240 has some value as well if you’re looking for a little bit of a longot play here in game number two. Let’s look at the total here. Uh game one obviously stayed well under. It was a blowout. As I’ve often said, blowouts can lead to misleading highscoring and lowscoring games. Uh Minnesota did not do their part offensively, scoring just 88 points. And as I mentioned earlier, they were ice cold. Uh just 29% from three-point range. And that’s going to have to change obviously here in game two. Um and I do think they play better offensively. But OKC was the best defensive team in the league this year, most efficient defense. But keep in mind, Minnesota the second most efficient defense heading in to this round of the playoffs in the postseason. These were the two best defensive teams so far in the postseason. Uh so there is a reason why this total is so much lower than the regular season. Keep in mind when these teams played three times in February, the total was around 228 229. Game one was around 219. Landed 202 in the blowout. Teams kind of took the uh took their foot off the gas in the f fourth quarter if you will uh the other night in game number one. uh even though they had 60 points there. It was kind of playground basketball, but the pace was extremely slow in the first half, first three quarters. Um so for good reason, the oddsmakers have bumped this total lower uh down to about 214, but they actually opened it as low as 213 and a half. I will say there’s some sharp money on the over though. It bumped from 213 up to 214 12 on Wednesday, but probably the sharpest book in the world, Pinnacle, is at 215. So once again, mostly 214, 214 and a halfs, but the sharpest book in the world, Pinnacle is at 215. Uh, so I’d say there’s a little bit of a sharp money lean on the over here in game two as the betting market maybe is over adjusted a little bit based on the lowscoring game one. By the way, I use oddslogic.com for these live odds, uh, chartbooks, square books, injury updates, opening lines. If you’d like to try OddsLogic for free for 7 days, go to oddslogic.comsm for a free 7-day trial. That link is also posted on my homepage right now at wageralk.com. So once again, free 7-day trial of OddsLogic. Realtime odds, injuries, and score updates. Same information I use, same information the sports books use. You can get it for free for 7 days by going to oddslogic.comsm. Let’s look at some player props. We’ve been doing well with the player props here throughout the playoffs. And as I told you, we couldn’t take too much away from the regular season meetings because Goar and Randall both miss missed all three games in the month of February and these teams most recently played. Uh so I really kind of wanted to dig into game one to see how it played out. Unfortunately, with the foul trouble for Minnesota and the eventual blowout win for OKC, once again, we can’t read too much into the box score, but there were a few things that jumped out to me. First of all, as I said earlier, Jada McDaniels had only 23 and a half minutes because he fouled out seven points, only five shot attempts. I do think his over is worth a look here in game number two. I expect him to play a full game. Most likely stay out of foul trouble and get over his 11 12. And what’s interesting is the betting market had him at 12 and a half for basically the entire Golden State series and also game one. Now he’s set at 11 12. So it’s been bumped down really for the wrong reason in my opinion. I like Jaden McDaniels to get over 11 and a half points and have a better game overalls. All of his different props, points, rebounds, whatever you want to look at. I think McDaniel’s overs are worth a look. Uh, same thing for Anthony Edwards. Now, he did go to the locker room with a brief ankle injury. Again, he came back, he was limited with fouls, four fouls, only played 36 minutes, only took 13 shot attempts, but I would expect him to have a good game. If I expect them to bounce back, as I think they will, uh, Edwards will probably do the heavy lifting. A lot of variance, by the way, on his props. He was around 26 and a half, 27 points in the Golden State series. He was only 24 and a half in game one, landed 18 in limited minutes, and now you see him anywhere from 23 and 1/2 to 25 and a half. So, shop around. We’ll say 24 and a half, but there are FanDuel has 23 and a half to the over. Uh, so I do think Edwards over 23 and a half at FanDuel is worth a look for total points. If I look for the T- Wells to have a better game, two, um, then you got to expect those two guys to bounce back. And of course, Randall has some nice matchup edges in this series. We talked about that going into game one. Um, even though he didn’t play a lot in the regular season meetings, I do think he’ll have a good series. He was nine for 13, finished with 28 points, five for six from three. So, he really can’t shoot any better. And he might get a few less looks with McDaniels and Edwards Playmore. So, I’m a little neutral on Randall. He was at 19 and a half, got to 28. He’s currently 18 1.5 to 19 and a half. It’d be over a pass for Julius Randall. Um, but he might not get quite as many shot attempts and probably won’t shoot as well he as he did in game number one. On the OKC side, I earlier touched on SGA. Uh if they keep giving the foul calls and he goes 11 for 14 from the line, he’ll maybe get over, but he still only ended up with 31 points on 27 shot attempts. He was only 10 for 27 shooting. Uh he always hovers right around that kind of key number of 31. So not a lot of value with SGA. We’re never looking to fade superstars. Um but he said 31 32 35 31 in his last four playoff games and he’s priced at 31 and a half. So I think the market has him pretty accurate. One guy I will look to fade though in OKC and I hinted at this earlier is Isaiah Hartinstein uh the big center and I think he could regress a bit here in game number two. I’m not sure how needed he is in this series and he played only 19 and a half minutes in game one. Now yes he had foul trouble with four personal fouls but in 19 minutes he scored 12 points. Wow, that seems impressive, right? Well he was six for eight from the field, never got to the free throw line. Six for eight shooting from the field and still ended up with just 12 points. He’s priced at eight and a half. I think Hartinstein under eight and a half could be a sneaky underplay if you’re looking for an OKC player to fade in game number one. All right, there you go. By the way, Jaylen Williams is a guy that’s been a little dicey for us. We talked a lot about him in the previous series. Let’s touch on him real quick. Um he’s priced at 20 and a half. He only got to 19 in game one and he has now had 19 or less in four of his last five playoff games. Uh so Jaylen Williams is a guy to be careful with. He was only seven for 18 shooting. um did play 33 minutes. Uh kind of neutral on him. Would like to see him maybe have one or two bad games again and then we’ll come back with the overs. He’s been a little up and down so far in this postseason, but I do like Hartinstein under. And then also some of those Minnesota guys I mentioned such as McDaniels and Edwards perhaps to the over. Uh Goar by the way only had three shot attempts in 21 minutes and only had two points. You know, I’m not a big fan of Go Bear and I would stay away from him probably in this round. There you go. side, total player props, adjusted series price. We gave you everything here for free in this video. Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, thumbs up, like, positive comments below, and let me know your thoughts. How are you playing game two Thursday night between the T- Wolves and Thunder? Do you think Minnesota is still in this series, or does OKC deserve to be over a 1 to6 favorite now to make the NBA finals? SGA also pretty heavy favorite now, over two to one or 1:2 rather, to be the MVP for the NBA Finals. They’re not out out of the conference finals yet even and he’s already minus money to win the MVP for the overall series uh in the NBA finals. And OKC is over uh minus 200 now to win the championship. Uh they’ll be favored obviously pretty heavy over either the Pacers or the Knicks. Um but I still think Minnesota’s alive in this series. We’ll see how game two plays out Thursday night 8:30 Eastern on ESPN. But truly include your comments below. I do read them. I reply back and include some analysis if you have time. Let’s learn and earn and win together here on Wager Talk TV. 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🏀 Join NBA betting expert Steve Merril as he breaks down Thursday’s Minnesota Timberwolves vs Oklahoma City Thunder Game 2 clash as he breaks down how to wager this Western Conference Finals matchup. What is his free NBA Playoffs prediction? Get his betting insights now!

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Minnesota Timberwolves vs Oklahoma City Thunder | Game 2 | May 22, 2025

The 2025 NBA Western Conference Finals continue with Game 2 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, May 22. The game will be held at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.​

Team Hashtags:
Minnesota Timberwolves: #RaisedByWolves
Oklahoma City Thunder: #ThunderUp

Game Details:
Date: Thursday, May 22, 2025
Time: 8:30 PM ET
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
TV Broadcast: ESPN
Streaming Options: Available through services like Sling TV (Orange plan), DirecTV (MySports pack), and Fubo (Pro plan).

Radio Broadcast:
Minnesota Timberwolves: KFXN-FM 100.3 “The Fan”
Oklahoma City Thunder: WWLS-FM 98.1 “The Sports Animal”

Betting Odds:
Spread: Oklahoma City Thunder -5.5
Total Points (Over/Under): 215.5​

Interesting Facts:
Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, at just 23 years old, is leading the Timberwolves in their pursuit of a first-ever NBA Finals appearance.

In Game 1, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points, contributing to the Thunder’s 114-88 victory. ​

Stay tuned for what promises to be an exciting Game 2 in the Western Conference Finals.

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