Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I can’t tell you how glad I am that the NFL draft is just one day away.
In today’s SI:AM:
This could get ugly
Bad news for the Memphis Grizzlies. They aren’t just getting their butts whupped by the Oklahoma City Thunder through two games of their first-round series—they’re getting stomped by a historic margin.
Game 1 of the series on Sunday was an ugly one for Memphis, which lost 131–80. That’s the fewest points the Grizzlies have scored in a game (regular season or playoffs) since 2018 and the second-largest margin of defeat in franchise history.
“If you’re in a playoff series, it’s a best of seven,” Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo said after Game 1. “It doesn’t matter if you win by one point on a buzzer-beater or you win by 50 points, you get one win. So luckily for us, there’s only one way from this and that’s up. And we will analyze it and learn from it. And then we will fix those things that hurt us.”
By that measure, Game 2 was better for the Grizz—but it still didn’t go well. The Thunder cruised to a wire-to-wire 118–99 win on Tuesday to take a 2–0 lead in the series.
Oklahoma City has now outscored the Grizzlies by 70 points in the first two games of the series. Only two other teams in NBA history have won consecutive playoff games against the same opponent by a combined 70 points or greater: the 2009 Denver Nuggets against the New Orleans Hornets and the 1986 Los Angeles Lakers against the San Antonio Spurs.
The NBA record for combined margin of victory in a playoff series is held by that same Denver team, which won the series against the Hornets in five games by a combined 121 points. The record for net points in a four-game sweep is 101 points by the 2010 Orlando Magic in a second-round victory over the Atlanta Hawks. The only other team to outscore its opponent by at least 100 points was the 2017 Cleveland Cavaliers in a five-game victory over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Thunder are well on their way to putting themselves on that list. Breaking the Nuggets’ record would require OKC to win the next two games by an average of 26 points, which, considering how the first two games have gone, isn’t out of the question. Setting the record for margin of victory in a sweep would require the Thunder to win the next two games by an average of 16 points—a much more attainable goal. OKC won the four games it played against Memphis in the regular season by an average of 18.8 points.
The Thunder said all the right things after Tuesday’s latest blowout. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said he and his teammates “never underestimate our opponent, no matter what.” Coach Mark Daigneault said his team was “ready for [Memphis] to play really well tonight.”
That’s nice of them to say, but everyone else knows that this series is over. OKC was the best team in the NBA this season, and while blowing out an eight-seed in the first round doesn’t prove much in terms of their championship aspirations, it’s still fun to see a great team flex its muscles. Well, it’s fun if you’re not the team on the losing end of a beatdown.
The best of Sports Illustrated
• Ahead of Thursday’s NFL draft, Conor Orr’s Digital Cover story examines the trend of famous parents meddling in their sons’ draft process.
• Matt Verderame’s list of bold draft predictions includes a major trade for an All-Pro player.
• Daniel Flick’s latest NFL mock draft has the Browns and Giants pulling off trades to select quarterbacks.
• Eva Geitheim ranked every quarterback ever selected with the No. 1 pick in the draft.
• Mike Kadlick spoke with the Celtics’ Payton Pritchard about being named Sixth Man of the Year.
• Travis Hunter’s father has been granted permission by a court in Florida to travel to Green Bay for the draft.
• The drama engulfing the Braves just won’t die down. Now, Jeff Francoeur weighed in with some harsh comments about Ronald Acuña Jr.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Miguel Amaya’s wall-scraping home run to tie the game for the Cubs in the bottom of the ninth. They went on to beat the Dodgers in extras, 11–10.
4. Matthew Tkachuk’s goal in his first game since early February.
3. Anthony Edwards’s incredible dunk on Jaxson Hayes.
2. Luka Doncic’s slick no-look pass.
1. Max Domi’s overtime game-winner for the Maple Leafs to take a 2–0 lead on the Senators.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Thunder Headed Toward Historic Beatdown of Grizzlies.
