Ryan Saunders, at his first game as the Timberwolves new interim coach went into the fire straight.
His debut as new coach was at the Timberwolves game against one of the best NBA teams in the Western Conference; OKC Thunder.However, Saunders came through as the Timberwolves managed to win against the OKC Thunder by 119-117 on Tuesday night.
Timberwolves were led by Andrew Wiggins who scored his season high of 40 points with 10 rebounds. Saunders deflected the credit after the game.
Saunders said, “It is unbelievable as to how connected they sated throughout the whole game. Down the stretch, there were so many times, where we could have disbanded and the then the crowd could have also gotten into us. I cannot say enough praise about the team.”
Saunders, who is 32 years old, is the son of the former Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders. The team fired their head coach Tom Thibodeau on Saturday.
Timberwolves forward Taj Gibson said of Saunders, “he fed off our energy and we fed off his energy. We were just trying to get a win for him.”
Other players from Timberwolves side, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20 points while Dario Saric scored 15 points.
Russell Westbrook of the OKC Thunder missed his two 3-pointer shots in the last minute of the game which could have led to their win. Westbrook finished with his 25 points and 16 assists for the Thunders.
Other players of OKC Thunder like Paul George scored 27 points and Steven Adams added in his 20 points with 12 rebounds for the night.
In this match, the reserve center of the Thunder, Nerlens Noel suffered a major head injury and was taken off the court on a stretcher. He suffered the injury during the third quarter after he made contact with Andrew Wiggins on a dunk attempt.
Up next, Timberwolves will host a game against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday while OKC Thunder will play against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.
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