The NBA playoffs continue Sunday with the other four first-round series tipping off. The No. 1 and No. 8 seeds will face each other, in addition to the No. 2 versus No. 7 seeds in each conference.
Check out Yahoo Sports’ predictions for each first-round series, in addition to Kevin O’Connor’s ranking of the top 40 players in the NBA postseason.
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Here are the results and key takeaways from Sunday’s games:
Thunder 131, Grizzlies 80
There are blowouts and then there’s what the No. 1 seed Thunder did to the No. 8 Grizzlies in their playoff opener Sunday. What was presumably a first-round NBA playoff game looked like a college basketball preseason matchup in which a national championship contender played a mid-major directional program. Maybe even a junior college.
Reporters will have to check to see if Memphis’ players are OK after what transpired on the Paycom Center court. What was perpetrated will need to be cleaned up before these two teams play Game 2 on Tuesday.
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Relentless onslaught from the start
Memphis never had a chance. The Thunder looked every bit the championship contender and well-rested with a week off after the regular season ended last Sunday. After the Grizzlies took a brief 9-8 lead five minutes into the first quarter, Oklahoma City unleashed hell, finishing the opening 12 minutes with a 32-20 lead and outscoring the Grizzlies 31-10 in the second quarter.
If the Grizzlies had any aspirations to be more competitive in the second half, the Thunder quickly smashed that notion with a 10-0 run that led to an eventual 44-point third quarter. If this was a boxing match, the corner would have thrown in the towel. A fighting referee probably wouldn’t have let the Grizzlies come out to play the second half. It was the fifth-biggest margin of victory in NBA postseason history.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander only played 23 minutes and scored 15 points, nearly getting his Easter Sunday off.
When asked postgame about Memphis’ performance, Ja Morant responded: “We will never play that bad again.”
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In fairness, that would be pretty tough to do.
Thunder frontcourt dominates in total mismatch
Oklahoma City had a huge advantage on the frontline, led by 20 points from Jalen Williams and 19 from Chet Holmgren. On the other side, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Zach Edey each scored only four points.
The Thunder had eight blocks as a team, wiping out any attempts by the Grizzlies to take the ball to the basket. Settling for outside shots didn’t work either, with Memphis shooting 6-of-34 on 3-pointers and 34% overall.
Yes, this was only one game in a best-of-seven series. But how do the Grizzlies recover to mount any sort of challenge? Game 2 tips off Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
— Ian Casselberry
