The Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday made a stunning 29-point comeback after the Memphis Grizzlies lost star guard Ja Morant to a hip injury as the Thunder beat the Grizzlies 114-108 to reach the brink of an NBA Western Conference playoff sweep.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points, Jalen Williams added 26 and Chet Holmgren scored 23 of his 24 points in the second half to spark the second-largest NBA playoff victory fightback since 1997.
“It wasn’t pretty. They hit us first, but we did what we had to do and came away with a win,” Holmgren said. “It was a team mentality. Everybody was saying something when we went into that locker room. Then we came out and we cleaned it up.”
Photo: Petre Thomas, Imagn Images
Oklahoma City seized a 3-0 lead first round best-of-seven series with a chance to complete the sweep in Game 4 in Memphis, Tennessee, today.
Morant sustained a bruised left hip late in the second quarter when he drove to the hoop and leaped high into the Thunder’s Luguentz Dort and fell face-first onto the court, writhing in pain for several minutes and eventually leaving the game for good.
The Grizzlies took their largest lead at 69-40 seconds after Morant’s departure with 3 minutes, 15 seconds to play in the second quarter and Memphis led 77-51 at halftime, but Oklahoma City outscored the hosts 63-31 in the second half.
Photo: Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Memphis interim coach Tuomas Iisalo said the injury to Morant, the Grizzlies’ points and assist leader this season, sapped his team’s energy and ability to execute plays.
“I would say quite drastically from the result, not only the energy, but the execution,” Iisalo said.
“We did a great job fighting for 48 minutes, but against this team it’s not enough to fight. You also have to be able to execute,” he said.
Photo: AP
As for Morant, he added: “He’s going through further evaluations tomorrow and then we’ll know more.”
The only greater NBA playoff collapse in the past 25 years came in 2019, when the Los Angeles Clippers rallied from 31 points down to defeat the Golden State Warriors.
“Our response, in a game that doesn’t feel attainable in certain parts of it, was great,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
The Morant injury play evoked memories of Golden State’s Jimmy Butler falling awkwardly on Wednesday, with an MRI on Thursday reportedly showing a deeply bruised gluteus muscle that left him uncertain for Game 3 against the Houston Rockets.
In Detroit, Michigan, the New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons 118-116. The Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns scored 31 points and Jalen Brunson added 30, including 12 in the fourth quarter, to give visiting New York a victory over Detroit in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Cade Cunningham and Tim Hardaway Jr. led Detroit with 24 points apiece, and Cunningham dished out a game-high 11 assists. Dennis Schroder scored 18 points for the Pistons. The loss extended a stinging futility run for the Pistons, who have not won a playoff series in 17 years and have not won a home playoff game since May 2008.
In Inglewood, California, the Clippers routed the visiting Denver Nuggets 117-83.
Kawhi Leonard recorded 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists and Los Angeles took a 2-1 series lead with the convincing victory over Denver.
James Harden had 20 points — all in the first half — to go with nine assists and six rebounds, while Norman Powell also scored 20 for the fifth-seeded Clippers. Ivica Zubac registered 19 points and nine rebounds as Los Angeles won its second straight in the best-of-seven, first-round series.
Denver star Nikola Jokic recorded 23 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists for his 20th career postseason triple-double. Jamal Murray also scored 23 points and Aaron Gordon added 15 points and seven rebounds for the fourth-seeded Nuggets.
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