MINNEAPOLIS — The score was already out of hand midway through the second quarter, when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recognized the opening in Timberwolves’ drop pick-and-roll coverage and rose up at the elbow for the type of mid-range jumper the Thunder feasted on over the first two games of the Western Conference finals.

Instead of following through on that shot on Saturday night, though, the newly minted NBA MVP had a second thought.

With Rudy Gobert’s long arm outstretched in front of him, Gilgeous-Alexander suddenly turned to his right in mid-air. But with nobody there to pass to, he landed back on the court while still holding the ball for the rare but obvious traveling call.

After the top-seeded Thunder found all kinds of soft spots in their defense and consistently hit those open shots over two decisive wins to start the series, the fifth-seeded Timberwolves tightened up their pressure with a back-to-basics approach on their home court that fueled a 143-101 victory in Game 3.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to throw your fastball,” coach Chris Finch said. “We were trying to do too much other junk at times.”

Inspired by the success the Nuggets had with the look in their second-round series against the Thunder, the Wolves mixed in some zone defenses over the first two games but failed to gain any traction with it. Gilgeous-Alexander totaled 69 points, and the Thunder made half of their shots from the floor.

With a palpable boost from the crowd at Target Center from the opening tip, the Wolves aggressively hounded the ball, employed effective switches and — the possession that ended with Gilgeous-Alexander’s traveling violation notwithstanding — played far less drop coverage than in the first two games to keep the Thunder from finding a mid-range rhythm. Most importantly, they were disciplined enough to keep their fouls to a minimum.

Gilgeous-Alexander went more than 13 minutes in the first half between baskets and finished with 14 points on 4-for-13 shooting with four turnovers and only four free throw attempts. In the first quarter, with the Wolves up 24-9, Gobert blitzed Gilgeous-Alexander for a double-team in the backcourt and swatted the ball out of his hand for a steal that started a fast break.

“What works for us is us playing hard man-to-man defense, playing in gaps, being in passing lanes and being physical,” point guard Mike Conley said. “We’ve got to continue to get better at some of the adjustments they’re going to do, but tonight I was happy with the way that we just kind of hit the reset button and locked in on our way of playing.”

The big question for Game 4 on Monday night is how quickly the Thunder can bounce back from such a drubbing.

“It’s been who we are generally,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “We know the ebbs and flows of a series. We’ve been on the other end of games like this, and they haven’t been predictive of the next game. We do have to ... address the things that went awry, but at the same time it’ll be a new game. It’ll be 0-0 when Game 4 starts.”