The Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves opened the NBA Western Conference Finals on Tuesday. The Thunder blew out the Timberwolves 114-88 in Game 1 at the Paycom Center.

"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he showed why he's MVP," Michael Malone said Tuesday during an appearance on ESPN's postgame coverage when discussing the Oklahoma City Thunder's 114-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are off to the conference finals. After a 125-93 win in Game 7 of their second-round series against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, they will host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.

The Oklahoma City Thunder overwhelmed the Denver Nuggets with swarming defense to win Game 7 and make it to their first Western Conference since 2016.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder thrashed the Denver Nuggets 125-93 to book their place in the NBA Western Conference finals on Sunday."Obviously our ultimate goal isn't just the Western Conference finals -- but we've got to go through there to get there.

Find out if the Denver Nuggets star forward Aaron Gordon will play in Sunday's Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.