Early in the second quarter of Sunday’s Game 1, a defender flew toward Thunder veteran Alex Caruso, and in the heat of a playoff game, Caruso smiled. He seemed to get a kick out of the inevitability of the Thunder.
Thirty seconds earlier, a whirlwind of a possession saw the ball reach him in the left corner, where he then swung to guard Aaron Wiggins for a 3. But the nature of the game — and Oklahoma City’s poise — saw him in that exact corner, in that exact situation on the next play.
Caruso found Wiggins. Again. The mark of an avalanche. It came amid a laughable onslaught, and Caruso was caught among those amused.
“We were in a rhythm defensively, and we were kind of running it up on them,” Caruso told The Oklahoman after a 131-80 win over the Grizzlies to begin the first round. “(Jalen Williams) made two good reads in a row, and I yelled at him, ‘Corner again,’ on the second one. I was ready to shoot, but Wiggs was just wide open.
“It was just one of those things where it’s just fun playing basketball with those guys. It just came out right there. I knew he was gonna make it.”
Judging by Caruso’s expression, a 50-plus point playoff win — the fifth-largest margin of victory in NBA playoff history — seemed like an abundance of fun. For the other side, it was the stuff of nightmares. Cold sweats will accompany any flashes of the second quarter.
OKC’s halftime lead of 32 was a franchise record. It led by as many as 50 with five minutes to play in the third quarter. Earlier in the quarter, Memphis had more turnovers than field goals. The Grizzlies shot just 34.4% from the field and made just six of their 34 3-point attempts, even after more than 12 minutes of garbage time.
The Thunder defense acted as a wood chipper. What went in came out in shreds.
For the lengths it went to preach lineup versatility and depth throughout a 68-win regular season, the word was powerful on Sunday. From the jump, regardless of OKC’s series of rotations, every lineup seemingly produced winning plays.
Inside the Thunder’s double-big lineup, which started the game, center Isaiah Hartenstein loaded his push shot and snagged offensive rebounds. The other big man, Chet Holmgren, had 19 points with six free throws and three 3s.
In the backcourt, Lu Dort terrorized Ja Morant. Midway through the first quarter, after a made 3, Dort attached himself to Morant (17 points on 6-of-17 shooting) from baseline to baseline. When Morant hoped to use a ball screen above the arc, Dort leaped to his left hand. When Morant seemingly lost him, crossing over to his right hand, Holmgren spooked him long enough for Dort to recover.
Dort came away with a block on Morant on the baseline.
Caruso and sophomore Cason Wallace combined to be a plus-60 on Sunday with just one shot between them.
And the Thunder’s 19-2 run to begin the second quarter? That came without MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 15 points on 4-of-13 shooting — his fewest points in a game since scoring 18 on Oct. 30.
“If there’s a bunch of me’s out there tonight, it might’ve not looked like this,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s what you have a team for.”
Jalen Williams, a first-time All-Star this season, walked the walk with his superstar teammate off the floor. Ten of his 20 points (10 of 16) came then, opening up the floor to give Caruso perhaps his easiest reads of the night. Wiggins didn’t even check in until the second quarter. He drilled three 3s then, one of them enough to change Caruso’s mood.
Williams hardly needed to push the nail further, but with four minutes to play, he was incredulous. His hand was aching, having just punched the rim. His flight left him stumbling into the stanchion, a trip up to the rim for a ferocious one-handed lob.
He streaked down the floor attempting to grasp what he’d done. What the Thunder was doing.
“Oh s—!” he mouthed. “Oh s—!”
He later added: “I’ve never done that before.”
Gilgeous-Alexander, awaiting his substitution at the scorer’s table, reached for his head to make sure his mind wasn’t lost. Caruso took it all in. This was a feeling he’d missed, a familiar sensation from this team and those in his past.
This Thunder team’s ribs are touching. Caruso was left beaming by the fact that it wasn’t playing with its food.
“I was really excited to get back to the postseason because I think we have that hunger and desire, especially defensively, that we had in the first two, three months of the season,” Caruso said. “I knew we weren’t gonna be able to replicate that until there was something on the line with the stakes, like the playoffs.
“The great teams I’ve been a part of from any level of basketball had the same desire, this competitiveness, this hunger to win, willingness to do whatever it takes, to make whatever plays need to be made at any given time. That’s been consistent with any great team that I’ve been a part of.”
NBA Playoffs
Thunder leads Grizzlies 1-0
- Game 1: Thunder 131, Grizzlies 80
- Game 2, Tuesday: Thunder vs. Grizzlies, Paycom Center, 6:30 p.m. (TNT/FDSN)
- Game 3, Thursday: Thunder at Grizzlies, FedExForum, 8:30 p.m. (TNT/FDSN)
- Game 4, Saturday: Thunder at Grizzlies, FedExForum, 2:30 p.m. (TNT/FDSN)
- Game 5, Monday (April 28): Thunder vs. Grizzlies, Paycom Center, time/TV TBD (if nec.)
- Game 6, Thursday (May 1): Thunder at Grizzlies, FedExForum, time/TV TBD (if nec.)
- Game 7, Saturday (May 3): Thunder vs. Grizzlies, Paycom Center, time/TV TBD (if nec.)
