Thunder open 35-point 1st-half lead over Grizzlies, go on to win by 51 in a stat-filled Game 1
Thunder open 35-point 1st-half lead over Grizzlies, go on to win by 51 in a stat-filled Game 1
Oklahoma City’s playoff run got off to a record-setting start.
The Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies 131-80 in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series on Sunday, the fifth-biggest victory margin in NBA postseason history and the largest in a Game 1.
“We were amped up,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Give the guys a lot of credit for the week of practice that we had. It’s a sneaky tough week because it’s a lot of days without games and it gets you out of rhythm of games.”
The 51-point margin capped a stat-filled Sunday in OKC. Some highlights:
A 51-point win
For a while, it seemed like the Thunder had a chance at the biggest playoff win ever.
There have been two 58-point playoff margins: Denver beating New Orleans 121-63 on April 27, 2009, and the Minneapolis Lakers beating the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 on March 19, 1956.
The Los Angeles Lakers beat Golden State by 56 (126-70) on April 21, 1973 and the Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks by 54 (120-66) on April 30, 2015.
A 56-point lead
The Thunder led by as many as 56 points, the biggest lead in a playoff game since Denver led New Orleans by 58 points in that 2009 game.
OKC held leads of 127-71 and 129-73. The Grizzlies scored seven of the game’s final nine points, which kept Memphis from enduring the biggest playoff loss ever.
Sizzling from the start
The week off for the Thunder didn’t slow down the NBA’s best team this season — one that won 68 games and set a league record for point differential at 12.9 per game.
The Thunder opened a 35-point lead in the first half. That was the biggest first-half lead of any playoff Game 1 in the league’s digital play-by-play era that goes back to 1996-97.
Oklahoma City had 35-point leads twice — 61-26 and 63-28. The Thunder settled for a 68-36 lead at halftime, the biggest halftime lead of any playoff game in franchise history, as well as the biggest halftime deficit ever for the Grizzlies in a playoff game.
A rare 1st-half margin
Since 1997, there have been only two NBA playoff games where one team led by more than 35 points.
Both were done by the Cleveland Cavaliers when LeBron James played there.
The Cavs led at Boston by 41 points twice (70-29 and 72-31) in the first half of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on May 19, 2017. And the Cavs led Atlanta by 38 points (74-36) in Game 2 of the East semifinals on May 4, 2016.
And Shai only had 15
Go figure: The Thunder won by 51 points on a day where their MVP favorite, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, was “held” to only 15 points.
“I was impressed with how the guys came out and played,” Daigneault said.
Some turnabout, perhaps?
This wasn’t the most one-sided game in Thunder-Grizzlies history. Not even close.
Memphis beat Oklahoma City 152-79 on Dec. 2, 2021 — the 73-point margin there being the biggest in NBA history.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
