Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points to lead the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder to a 117-115 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday and a sweep of their first-round Western Conference series.
Jalen Williams added 23 and Isaiah Hartenstein finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder, who led throughout the second half except for the opening minute of the third quarter.
Scotty Pippen Jr. paced Memphis with 30 points and 11 rebounds, Santi Aldama had 23 points and nine boards and Desmond Bane scored 23 with five assists. Pippen tied his career high before fouling out with 1:01 to go. Big man Zach Edey blocked seven shots.
The Grizzlies played without star guard Ja Morant, who suffered a hip contusion during a hard fall in Thursday’s Game 3 while attempting to finish a fastbreak dunk.
The Thunder, the top seed in the West, will play the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers-Denver Nuggets series in the conference semifinals.
Oklahoma City breezed to victories in Game 1 (by 51 points) and Game 2 (by 19) before encountering resistance from the Grizzlies during Game 3 in Memphis. The Grizzlies built a 29-point first-half lead, but it evaporated after Morant was injured late in the second quarter and did not return. Oklahoma City outscored Memphis 63-31 in the second half to pull out a 114-108 win.
The Thunder led by only three (88-85) entering the fourth quarter Saturday as a Morant-less Memphis team stayed close. Oklahoma City enjoyed its largest lead at 108-96 with 3:37 remaining following a 3-pointer by Gilgeous-Alexander, but the Grizzlies battled back and made it a two-point game 116-114 with eight seconds left on a deep 3-pointer by Bane.
A free throw by Williams put the Thunder up 117-114 with six seconds to go. Bane added a free throw with 0.2 seconds and his intentional miss on his second attempt did not result in a Memphis shot attempt.
Gilgeous-Alexander spoke about the team’s clutch baskets.
“It’s something we work on all year, being able, at the end of the day, to just generate good looks down the stretch when the game gets tight,” he said. “Defenses are more locked in, the game slows down and it’s a little bit harder to get quality possessions. We were pretty good at it (today).”
The Grizzlies played even with the Thunder throughout the first half. Memphis led by seven on several occasions in the first quarter and never trailed by more than six in the half. There were 13 lead changes in the opening half and seven ties.
“We fought,” said Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo. “There was zero quit in this team. Guys had every reason to just let this one slip away, but they didn’t and that says a lot about the character in this group and what type of guys they are.
–Field Level Media
