It took the Thunder a mere quarter and change to cover the 13.5-point spread in their match against the Grizzlies the other day. Three minutes and 11 seconds later, they had doubled it — all but making the rest of Game One of their first round series academic. And so dominant were they that when Most Valuable Player candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walked off the court for good with just under five minutes to go in the third canto, their lead was a whopping 49 points, more than the competition’s actual score. The advantage would be 51 at the buzzer, the fifth-largest in National Basketball Association postseason history, never mind that no starter saw action in the payoff period.
To be fair, the Thunder had the Grizzlies’ number in the regular season as well. Not only had they claimed all four set-tos; they did so by double figures, with the average margin of victory at 18 points. In fact, they bested the entire league en route to posting an eye-popping 68-14 slate off a pacesetting defensive rating and top three offensive rating. Simply put, the outcome the other day was to be expected, especially in light of the short turnaround provided the blue and gray following the do-or-die play-in victory over the Mavericks.
“We played to our identity. Nothing more, nothing less than that,” Gilgeous-Alexander noted in his post-mortem. And he’s right; all the Thunder did, really, was be themselves the other day. Which, in a nutshell, is why an emphatic sweep won’t be a shocker, and why even a single loss would be a surprise. Anything the Grizzlies can do, they can do better — make that so much better — and hardly break into a sweat in the process. They are, at this point, inevitable.
Will the Thunder be tested in the later rounds? Perhaps. If there’s anything they lack, it’s experience. That said, the good news is that they know well enough not to fall prey to hubris. They understand their frailties, and thus lean on their strengths to stay competitive in the crunch. Meanwhile, they’re keen on making short work of the Grizzlies. After all, there is no better way to prep for a long journey than to get as much rest as they possibly can.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
