Alex Caruso’s defense, experience ‘turns tide’ for Thunder in near-historic Game 3 comeback

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t remember playing in the biggest comeback victory in NBA playoff history.

The Oklahoma City Thunder star needed to be reminded after his team had just completed the second-largest comeback in NBA playoff history.

“I completely forgot about that,” Gilgeous-Alexander said following the Thunder’s 114-108 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 3. “Tonight, it didn’t cross my mind.”

The Thunder trailed by as many as 29 points Thursday against a red-hot shooting Grizzlies team. Down by 26 at halftime, the Thunder overcame the largest halftime deficit in NBA playoff history. The 2019 Los Angeles Clippers hold the record for the largest come-from-behind victory in playoff history, overcoming a 31-point deficit in a first-round series against the Golden State Warriors. Gilgeous-Alexander was a rookie on that Clippers team.

“That is crazy,” Thunder guard Jalen Williams said.

Oklahoma City trailed 69-40 with 3:07 remaining in the first half. Seven seconds earlier, however, Grizzlies star Ja Morant exited the game with a hip injury following a hard fall on a layup attempt. His legs got clipped in the air by Thunder guard Lu Dort’s head. The contact appeared inadvertent, as Dort also was falling on the play. Officials reviewed the play, ruling Dort was in a compromised position and issuing a common foul.

“I never want to see anybody get hurt,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I hope he’s OK. You want everybody to be at full strength. He’s a great competitor. He was playing great. Obviously that had something to do with the game as well. It would be wrong of me not to acknowledge that. But I think it was a clean play. I think everybody was just playing hard. It was unfortunate, and I hope he’s all right.”

Memphis made eight of its first 13 3-pointers, with Scotty Pippen Jr. drilling his first four and five of his first six attempts from long distance. Pippen scored a team-high 28 points.

“We just didn’t react well to their role players making a bunch of shots early,” Thunder guard Alex Caruso said. “I don’t know if they hit the rim on their first five shots between Pippen, (John) Konchar, (Santi) Aldama, they all were just seeing green and just cashing.”

The Grizzlies used a 25-5 run in the second quarter to serve the Thunder a taste of how Game 1 went for the Grizzlies, who trailed by as many as 56 in that contest before losing by 51 points. Memphis’ ball movement was much crisper than the first two games. The Grizzlies forced the Thunder to scramble defensively by spraying passes around and finding open shooters. Daigneault said the Thunder got out of character.

“It sucks in the moment, but we can’t pout,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We can’t get caught in your feelings because then it just gets bigger and bigger, and you don’t give yourself a chance. So that’s all we were focused on, just trying to plug away at it.”

At halftime, Caruso addressed the team. He stayed positive. He told his teammates a lot of time remained, plenty of possessions were left to be played.

“I was talking to the guys in the locker room just about getting it to low doubt digits: 10, 11, 12,” Caruso said. “And from there, it felt like we could win the game.”

Caruso also has history with improbable comeback victories. His Texas A&M squad overcame a 10-point deficit in the final 30 seconds of regulation against Northern Iowa in a 2016 NCAA Tournament game. The Aggies went on to win in double overtime. Caruso scored 25, and that historic finish happened in Oklahoma City, when the Paycom Center was still called Chesapeake Energy Arena.

“I’ve been part of a couple of comebacks in my career, even before the NBA, that have been crazy,” Caruso said. “But a playoff game, down 30, that’s not a great feeling, especially on the road.”

But the Thunder expertly followed the blueprint Caruso laid out. OKC cut its 26-point halftime deficit in half in the first seven minutes of the third. Chet Holmgren came alive as the driving force after scoring one point on 0-for-4 shooting in the first half. On the first possession of the second half, he nailed a straight-away 3 after coming off an Isaiah Hartenstein screen. At the five-minute mark, Holmgren hit back-to-back 3s to pull the Thunder within 13. Holmgren had 16 points in the third, making six of eight shots, including four of five 3s.

“First of all, credit to Mark for sticking with me,” Holmgren said. “It changed the trajectory of the game. He trusted me in calling for me to bomb one out of the half after that shit storm that I put up in the first half. Once I saw one go in, I kind of felt good.”

The Thunder held the Grizzlies to 31 points in the second half. Over the final 24 minutes, Memphis shot 9-of-36 and hade more turnovers (13) than made field goals.

“Our defense is our superpower,” Caruso said. “When we’re locked in on that side of the ball, we’re an unstoppable force because we just have so many guys and such great instincts and can finish possessions.”

Caruso’s defensive instincts jumped out again down the stretch. He played the final 10 minutes and supplied a series of critical stops inside the final three minutes. With the game tied at 108 with 2:15 remaining, Caruso swatted the ball out of Jaren Jackson Jr.’s hands on a post-up. The scorer ruled it as a blocked shot. With 40 seconds remaining and the Thunder nursing a three-point lead, Caruso then stole the ball from Pippen Jr. on the perimeter. Caruso turned to the crowd, roared and pounded his chest. He had four steals, two against Jackson.

“The only advantage I have when guarding bigger players is the ball exposes itself,” Caruso said. “We talked about it as a team, being undersized at times this year. Just being aggressive in those situations. Sometimes we’re going to foul, but a lot of times we’re going to get deflections and we’re going to get steals, and we’re going to be able to run. So just taking advantage of the opportunity when it presents itself.”

Caruso didn’t just supply timely defense. With 2:38 remaining, he found Holmgren on a drive-and-kick 3 that tied the game at 108.

“He turned the tide for us, for sure,” Williams said. “He just knows how to win.”

And the Thunder, it seems, refuses to lose.

“I just think we have a team of guys that feel a responsibility to each other,” Daigneault said. “They’re going to go down swinging. We could have easily lost that game because of the hole we dug ourselves. We’re going to get tested a lot of different times, and we’ve got to be ready to pull together when we do. And that’s what I thought we did out of halftime. We were a connected team in the second half of that game, in the face of adversity, on the road, against a team that was playing really well and that was really hungry.”

Daigneault said he’s never surprised by his team. But he’s always impressed.

“They just feel an unbelievable responsibility to on another,” Daigneault said. “I think it just comes down to that. They’re the epitome of a team, one through 18.”

(Photo: Justin Ford/Getty Images)

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