The Oklahoma City Thunder took a commanding lead over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night, pulling off a 29-point comeback to go up 3-0. Part of that effort was fueled by the injury of Ja Morant, which completely changed the outlook of the game.
From that point on, Oklahoma City was able to chip away at the deficit and complete the second-largest comeback in playoff history. Morant has already been ruled out for Game 4, with the Grizzlies facing elimination on Saturday afternoon.
Regardless of whether the Thunder is able to complete the sweep today, or if it takes Game 5 back at home to win the series, ensuring it’s a quick victory will be key. After OKC’s primary pieces got more than a full week of rest before this opening series, they could get another full week before the next round if they take care of business soon.
Oklahoma City will play the winner of the Denver Nuggets-LA Clippers series in the next round. The Clippers are currently up 2-1, but this series will carry into May if it goes even six games. The second round will start sometime between sometime May 3 and May 5. If the Nuggets-Clippers series goes through distance, Game 7 won’t take place until a week from today. From there, Game 1 of the following series would start two or three days later in that case.
As such, the Thunder sweeping the series today over the Grizzlies would mean upward of 10 days of rest. Losing today and then closing it out on Monday could still result in a full week. One of those two scenarios would create a significant advantage over a worn down Denver or LA squad.
The key to winning today’s game against Memphis ahead of that will be getting out to a hot start. In both of the first two games of this current series, OKC threw the first punch and built an early lead in the first quarter. That set the tone, allowing the Thunder to dictate the style of play and giving Mark Daigneault the ability to manipulate lineups and pull away for big wins.
Conversely, Memphis was able to set the tone and build the early lead in Game 3. The theme of this series has been that the team that starts hot ultimately is able to build a significant lead. The only problem was that in the game that the Grizzlies did that, they allowed a historic comeback.
With Morant not playing this afternoon, and potentially moving forward if this series gets extended, there will be tremendous weight on the shoulders of Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane. They’ll have to put together their best offensive performances of the year to save the season and overcome the Thunder’s elite defense.
Although Memphis is playing with its back against the wall, Oklahoma City should also has much to play for today with the opportunity to earn valuable rest days before the next series.
Game 4 is set to tip off at 2:30 p.m. CT today on TNT.
