There were concerns from some about Oklahoma City’s playoff readiness despite a dominant regular season that produced the best record in the NBA.
The Thunder responded with an emphatic answer on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies. Oklahoma City opened a 32-20 first quarter lead that it extended to 68-36 at halftime.
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When it was over, the Thunder cruised to a 131-80 win. The margin of victory fell short of the NBA playoff record of 58, set by the 2009 Denver Nuggets and 1956 Minneapolis Lakers. But the 51-point margin is the fifth-largest in playoff history and the largest ever for a Game 1. The previous Game 1 record was 47 points.
Memphis waved the white flag at the start of the fourth by sending its starters to the bench. The Thunder responded in kind, then extended their lead to as much as 56 points (129-73) late in the fourth quarter.
It was the sort of thrashing that’s sometimes seen in high school or college when a team is completely outmatched. To see a blowout like this in the NBA is rare. To see it in the playoffs is even more so.
Isaiah Hartenstein, Jalen Williams and the Thunder put the rest of the playoff field on further notice Sunday. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
OKC’s blowout of Memphis, by the numbers
Oklahoma City opened its lead with a dominant first half that’s not been seen in the last 28 seasons by a team that didn’t feature LeBron James. Per the Associated Press, Oklahoma City’s 35-point second-quarter lead (61-28) is the third-largest in the first half of a playoff game since the NBA started tracking play-by-play statistics in 1996-97. James’ Cleveland Cavaliers held a 41-point lead in the 2017 playoffs and a 38-point lead in 2016.
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Oklahoma City then kept on the gas with a 44-27 advantage in the third quarter.
The win signaled an extension of a dominant regular season in which the Thunder rolled to a 68-14 record with the largest average margin of victory in NBA history (12.9 points per game). Despite this, there was chatter about the lack of playoff experience from a young core that’s played in just two postseason series together while advancing to last season’s Western Conference semifinals.
Sunday’s win should put those concerns to rest. It was a dominant performance during a down game from their MVP candidate and NBA scoring champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored fewer than 20 points for the first time in 73 games.
Thunder did this during SGA’s worst scoring game of the season
Gilgeous-Alexander tallied a season-low 15 points while shooting 2 of 10 in the first half and 4 of 13 for the game. In fact, no Thunder player scored more than 21 points in what was truly a team effort that should put the rest of the NBA on notice — as if it wasn’t already.
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Six Thunder players scored in double figures, led by 21 points from Aaron Wiggins off the bench. Jalen Williams posted a plus-44 in the plus/minus column.
Desmond Bane countered with a minus-51 while scoring nine points and turning the ball over four times. Per StatMuse, that’s the worst plus/minus rating for a player in an NBA playoff game in the 21st century.
But Bane wasn’t the only Grizzlies player stifled by Oklahoma City’s swarming defense. Ja Morant was the only Memphis starter to log more made field goals than turnovers.
In total, the Thunder forced 22 turnovers and limited the Grizzlies to 34.4% shooting from the field and 17.6% shooting (6 of 34) from 3-point distance. Oklahoma City countered with just eight turnovers of its own while shooting 50.5% from the field and securing a 54-43 rebounding margin.
It added up to an overwhelming effort from the NBA’s best team and a message that Oklahoma City’s regular-season dominance through 82 games was certainly no fluke.
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