On Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, the Timberwolves let the Thunder into the paint. They let the Thunder shoot open threes. They let their guard down in the most literal sense.

The result: a 129-106 loss to the Thunder in a matchup of two of the top three teams in the Western Conference.

The Wolves (22-7) have risen to the top of the West with their top-ranked defense. It didn’t travel this time in the team’s most one-sided defeat of the season.

Minnesota couldn’t stop the Thunder from penetrating, which meant they couldn’t do much about the drive-and-kicks. They couldn’t do anything about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at all. He finished with 34, his 12th game with 30 or more in his last 14, and he had 30 after three quarters.

Minnesota let itself get pushed into a shootout, which is not its game.

The Thunder’s 35 assists and 60.5% shooting was tops for a Wolves opponent this season. Those 129 points were the second-most Minnesota has allowed. Minnesota’s 23 turnovers were turned into 23 points.

Oklahoma City (19-9) got double-figure scoring from Gilgeous-Alexander — who made 14 of 19 shots — Luguentz Dort (20), Minnesota native Chet Holmgren (20), Jalen Williams (21) and Josh Giddy (10). The Wolves were led by Anthony Edwards (25), Mike Conley (17) and Karl-Anthony Towns (16).

After Gilgeous-Alexander had driven to the hoop for his 33rd and 34th points — to go with nine assists and six rebounds — to put the Thunder up 22 with 4:32 left Wolves coach Chris Finch called a time out, raised the white flag and sat his starters with Minnesota down 23.

In the first quarter the Wolves got points from eight players, made 65% of their shots, made five of eight threes …

… And they trailed 40-35.

The biggest reason: Gilgeous-Alexander. The league’s third-best first-quarter scorer, he had 11 in the first 12 minutes for the Thunder, which shot 70%, made five of nine threes while scoring the most first-quarter points by a Minnesota opponent this season.

And if the defenses improved on both sides in the second quarter, there still wasn’t enough of it for the Timberwolves, who allowed Oklahoma City to make 10 of 22 shots in the second quarter. Still, the Thunder — which had three players in double figures by halftime — were up 11 with 2:09 left in the first half before a 7-2 finish made it a six-point game. Gobert (four points) and Edwards (three) were at the center of that run.

Late in the third quarter, after a 10-3 run, the Thunder was up 15. The Wolves cut that to nine entering the fourth.

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.