OKLAHOMA CITY โ The Oklahoma City Thunder made a spectacular start to their Western Conference playoff series, securing a decisive 131-80 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. This triumph marked the fifth-largest winning margin in NBA postseason history.
The gameโs 51-point gap fell just seven points short of the playoff record and established a new milestone as the largest Game 1 win in the history of NBA playoffs.
Standout performances came from Aaron Wiggins with 21 points, Jalen Williams with 20, and Chet Holmgren, who notched a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBAโs leading scorer averaging nearly 33 points per game, contributed 15 points. Despite this, the Thunder achieved a 50.5% shooting accuracy.
โWe played to our identity,โ noted Gilgeous-Alexander. โNothing more, nothing less than that. We were who we were all yearโฆ and itโs going to be the key to our success, just staying true to who we are.โ
Reflecting on the previous yearโs semi-final loss against Dallas, Gilgeous-Alexander was focused on better equipping his team for this seasonโs playoff challenges, evident in their Game 1 performance.
โI have a great group of guys around me, and I know that,โ he said. โAnd Iโve known that for a long timeโฆ They obviously played amazing.โ
Remarkable playoff victories in NBA history include Denverโs 58-point triumph over New Orleans in 2009 and the Minneapolis Lakersโ similar feat against the St. Louis Hawks in 1956. More examples include the Los Angeles Lakers defeating Golden State by 56 points in 1973 and the Chicago Bullsโ 54-point victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in 2015.
For Memphis, Ja Morant managed 17 points despite struggling with his shots, hitting 6 out of 17 attempts. Jaren Jackson Jr., who averaged over 22 points during the regular season, was limited to four points from 2-for-13 shooting. Collectively, the Grizzlies shot a mere 34.4%.
The Thunder, boasting a league-leading 68-14 regular-season record, commanded the game with a staggering 20-0 run, propelling them to a 55-22 lead in the second quarter. This dominance extended to a 35-point halftime advantage.
Ja Morant reflected on the performance, commenting, โI just felt like after that, the energy just kind of wasnโt there and we were just trying to talk to ourselves to get back into the game.โ
This marked the first playoff appearance for Memphis under interim coach Tuomas Iisalo, following his short stint of nine regular-season games prior to the play-in contests.
โIf youโre in a playoff series, itโs a best of seven,โ Iisalo commented. โIt doesnโt matter if you win by one point on a buzzer-beater or you win by 50 points, you get one win. So luckily for us, thereโs only one way from this and thatโs up. And we will analyze it and learn from it. And then we will fix those things that hurt us.โ
Anticipating Game 2 on Tuesday, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault expects less discrepancy, considering Memphisโ challenging schedule. โThey played 36 hours ago and had an emotional game, had to turn around and play at noon today, which is a really tough turnaround,โ Daigneault noted. โSo theyโre going to be better Tuesday. So I thought we did a good job. But I donโt think we can expect that from them again. You know theyโre going to play a lot better than that.โ