Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder destroyed the Memphis Grizzlies 131-80 on Sunday, the 51-point margin representing the largest Game One win in NBA playoff history. The size of the win in the Western Conference First Round opener was even more remarkable given that Thunder’s star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his statistically worst performance of the season, managing just 15 points, five assists, and three rebounds.
Instead, all of the starters made double figures, with Jalen Williams making 20 points along with six assists, while the top scorer was Aaron Wiggins who put up 21 points off the bench. The win was the fifth largest ever in NBA playoff history and was also a franchise record. Having topped the conference in the regular season, OKC had time to get ready for the playoffs while the Grizzlies fought their way in via the play-in tournament.
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Williams said the team had made the most of the time off. “We had a lot of guys that played a lot of minutes play the rest of the season, so that was big for them. And then I think we just did a good job of pacing out practice and having time like that off and making that the best of our ability,” he said. “I think we’re well rested. Our legs are fresh and we just did a good job of taking that off time,” he said.
Game two in the series is on Tuesday.
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