The Memphis Grizzlies took a devastating hit of their playoff opener, crumbling underneath the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s relentless assault in a recreation that shortly turned historic for all of the incorrect causes.
Sunday’s matchup slipped away early and by no means tightened, leaving Memphis scrambling for solutions forward of an important Recreation 2.
The 51-point defeat stands as the most important Recreation 1 blowout in NBA playoff historical past, a stunning begin to what many anticipated can be a aggressive sequence.
But amid the rubble of this collapse, Memphis discovered their star level guard refusing to wave the white flag.
“If we win Tuesday – sequence 1-1. Then this recreation gained’t matter,” Ja Morant mentioned, studies OKC Thunder Wire’s Clemente Almanza.
Ja Morant: “If we win Tuesday sequence 1-1. Then this recreation will not matter.”
pic.twitter.com/tzn1Ps0vq7— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 20, 2025
The assured response comes with a contact of irony.
Simply three seasons in the past, the tables have been utterly turned when the Memphis Grizzlies demolished the Thunder by an NBA-record 73 factors.
Basketball fortunes can change shortly, and Sunday’s recreation proved that painful lesson as Oklahoma Metropolis constructed a lead that surpassed 50 factors throughout the third quarter.
Morant supplied one of many few glimpses of struggle for Memphis, scoring 17 factors on 6-of-17 capturing, tying Marvin Bagley III for team-high honors.
The remainder of the beginning lineup struggled mightily, with no different starter reaching double figures within the scoring column.
Regardless of the humbling defeat, Morant’s confidence alerts that Memphis hasn’t misplaced religion.
The Grizzlies now face a pivotal Recreation 2 on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the place a bounce-back efficiency may reset the sequence simply as Morant predicted.
One other loss, nonetheless, would ship them house dealing with a frightening 0-2 deficit in opposition to a Thunder group that’s clearly firing on all cylinders.
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