MINNEAPOLIS — When the Thunder are away, the fans come out to play.

As the OKC Thunder played in Minneapolis, the Oklahoma City Thunder fans came out to support their team by filling the Paycom Center to watch the game live on the big screens around inside the arena to cheer on their team.

As each player walked through the tunnel, Sam Presti was parked near the road locker room. He clapped his hands and offered fist bumps to every member on the roster. The usually stoic OKC GM showed a rare glimpse of emotion after a thriller that pushed his squad to the closest it’s been to an NBA Finals trip in nearly a decade.

The Oklahoma City Thunder did enough to survive against the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 128-126 Game 4 win. After the ship was shaken a little bit with a historic Game 3 loss, OKC is right back in control of the Western Conference Finals with a 3-1 series lead.

It was another playoff victory that’ll be written in ink for The Big 3’s lore of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. The Thunder’s best three players outplayed Minnesota’s role players, who collectively enjoyed one of their best games yet.

“Those guys were all great. Dub, the tone he set early and the shot-making late was huge. Chet was a monster, played majority five all night and battled up. Shai was obviously brilliant and all of the guys,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought Cason gave us a great lift, Caruso gave us a great lift. I thought Dort’s tone early defensively was particularly important in that one. Everybody that went into the game gave us a huge contribution in that game.”

Talk about a gutsy win. As many expected, it was the most entertaining game of the series yet. A lot was on the line. OKC needed to deliver a fatal blow while Minnesota tried to even the series and fly back south with all the momentum. The back-and-forth affair saw neither team lead by more than 11 points.

The Thunder got off to a much better start. After dealing with some Game 4 sleepiness, they were wide awake and filled with caffeine this time. Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams both set the tone with loud opening quarters. They scored 13 points respectively and led OKC to a 37-30 lead.

Both teams played with the same flow in the second quarter. Every time it felt like the Thunder would burst open an overwhelming run, the Timberwolves answered back with timely outside buckets. Minnesota’s role player stepped up in the comfort of their gym.

The Thunder entered halftime with a 65-57 lead. Not the biggest lead, but not bad. Still, they left the door open just enough for the Timberwolves to feel hope. That came back to bite OKC at the start of the second half. Nine straight points helped Minnesota climb back. Back-to-back corner 3-pointers by Donte DiVincenzo tied it up at 79 points apiece.

Just like that, brand new ball game. Everybody in OKC and Minnesota risked their heart health. A Western Conference Finals game that can swing a series is the type of circumstance that will stress anybody out just by reading that sentence. Much less actually experiencing it.

The Timberwolves scored 28 points in the third frame. The Thunder’s lead was cut to 90-85 after the third quarter. While OKC enjoyed a 20-plus shot-attempt advantage, Minnesota’s hot outside shooting kept it within striking distance.

Both teams exchanged buckets the rest of the way. Nobody could sit down in their seat. Whether at Target Center or at the bar or in their own living room. Every time Williams or Gilgeous-Alexander hit a timely bucket, a Minnesota role player would answer.

The Timberwolves were as close as two points. Jaden McDaniel’s 3-pointer made it a 111-109 score with a little over four minutes left. Clutch time. Every viewer likely received an Apple Watch notification about their stress level around this juncture.

After that outside bucket, the Thunder created a cushion with a 118-111 lead as only a little over two minutes were left. The Timberwolves failed to erase the deficit. Anthony Edwards became too passive and Minnesota’s role players missed outside shots.

The Timberwolves made it interesting in the final seconds. The intentional foul game almost bit the Thunder again in these playoffs. Gilgeous-Alexander split a pair of free throws to make it a three-point lead with eight seconds left. But OKC fouled Minnesota to keep a distance. One final chance of a miraculous tie was ruined when Williams intercepted an attempted lob to Rudy Gobert.

Sent to the free-throw line multiple times in the final seconds, Gilgeous-Alexander was as cool as The Terminator. Drowned in “freethrow merchant” chants and booes, the MVP didn’t care he was the most hated man in the packed building. He was ice cold and knocked down his attempts to seal the result.

The Thunder edged out the Timberwolves. They left the Minnesota crowd in shock and annoyance. Meanwhile, OKC gutted out one of its most impressive wins of the season to be on the doorstep of an NBA Finals trip.

The Thunder shot 51% from the field and went 16-of-37 (43.2%) from 3. They shot 16-of-21 on free throws. They had 22 assists on 48 baskets. Four Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander had an efficient 40 points. Williams stepped up with 34 points. Chet Holmgren also had 21 points. The Thunder’s Big 3 stepped up once again. Alex Caruso scored 10 points off the bench.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves shot 51% from the field and went 18-of-41 (43.9%) from 3. They shot 22-of-28 on free throws. They had 30 assists on 43 baskets. Six Timberwolves players scored double-digit points.

One of them wasn’t Edwards. He had a quiet 16 points and six assists. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 23 points, McDaniels had 22 points and DiVincenzo had 21 points. Rudy Gobert tallied 13 points and nine rebounds while Naz Reid scored 11 points.

If the Thunder clinch the Western Conference Finals, this will be the decisive game that shows how the series played out. The old saying goes that a playoff series doesn’t start until the road team ends. But in this case, that might be the series-killer.

While the defense wasn’t at a championship-level, the Thunder relied on otherworldly shot-making from their star trio to outlast the Timberwolves’ hot outside shooting. The first seed has shown they can win in different ways throughout the season. A video-game-esque contest is the latest example.

“We have to approach the next 48 hours the same way we approached the last 48 hours. Just get back to our baseline. That’s our deal. The gaps between the games for us we try to make as consistent as possible,” Daigneault said. “The guys do a great job at that. We just need to focus on winning possessions in Game 5. Not try to win the game or try to focus on anything else.”

The Thunder are back home tonight with a 3-1 series lead. The game start is set for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. The game can be viewed on ESPN.

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