Thunder vs. Grizzlies: Will OKC continue to roll in the wild vest? Series key, schedule and prediction

The top seed in Oklahoma City Thunder (68-14) of the Western Conference is in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs. The two franchise companies have not met in the playoffs since 2013-14 Grit-N-grind lost a series in the first round to Kevin Durant’s Thunder, 4-3.

What we know about thunder

They are great. The thunder won 68 games. Of the six other teams who have ever done this, four of them won the championship. The other two won one within a season. Oh, and Oklahoma City recorded the second best net rating in NBA history (+12.8) and only beat Michael Jordan’s legendary 72-Sieg Bulls from 1995-96 Chicago.

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They are run by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Liga MVP favorite. The 26-year-old scored an average of 32.7 points (on 52/38/90 shooting spreads), 6.4 assists, five rebounds, 1.7 steals and a block in 34.2 minutes per game. He cuts himself where he wants and he can score from anywhere, especially from the free -wire line.

Try to stop him. You can’t. In every game he scored at least 20 points in every game – the fourth game of the year. He scored more than half of his games over 30 points and scored 40 and four times 50 times. You get the point. He gets his and that leads to many victories. He also plays defense. Hard.

Everyone on thunder plays defense. As hard as possible. They are rabid and claw the ball wherever he goes. Put it on the ground for your own danger. The gap between its defense and the second-rated NBA outfit corresponds to the gap between a top 10 defense and a bottom-20. That means the gap is wide.

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The 24-year-old Jalen Williams and 22-year-old Chet Holmgren are behind SGA. Williams made his first all-star team this season with an average of 22-5-5, and Holmgren (15-8-2) would have done it if he hadn’t lost three months against a broken right hip. Oklahoma City repeatedly won in his absence and when Holmgren returned, he opened a double-big position that somehow made the thunder even more dangerous.

Behind them is a wave of talented participants, including Isaiah Hartenstein, Lu there, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins and Alex Caruso. Even Ousmane Dieng at the end of the bank gives you a good minutes. It is proof of the identification of talents and the development of IT in OKC.

What we know about the grizzlies

They fired their head coach Taylor Jenkins, one of the best coaches in the NBA, with nine games in the regular season. The Grizzlies had previously revised Jenkins’ entire coaching staff in the low season and, among others, Tuomas Iisalo, the Finnish assistant, who has replaced him since then.

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According to reports, the internal debate reported to Memphis, which settled in sixth place for the season and produced 117.3 points per 100 possessions. Pretty good! Only they ran Pick-and-Roll-Die almost ubiquitous crime of the NBA-Seltener than any other team. That may not have been well with Superstar Point Guard. And it may not work in the playoffs either. So Memphis made the move, even if Iisalo was praised because of his more aggressive crime. To put it the least, it is a strange situation.

It was also another strange season for Morant, whose availability – due to injuries or suspension – was stained during his entire career. He didn’t play more than six games in a row all season. He also ran again in the league office and was at a finger celebration that was not the best look in view of his previous disciplinary problems. So instead he turned a grenade celebration. Everything is very childish.

When he was healthy, Morant was not the player at a superstar level he was. He has not done the all-star team, although his performance, since he was actually in the basketball court, is far better. He scored an average of 23.2 points (on 45/31/82 shooting), 7.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game a year.

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The best player in the Grizzlies this season was Jaren Jackson Jr. (22-6-2 on 49/38/78 Splits), the defensive player of 2023 of the league. Desmond Bane (19-6-5 on 48/39/89 Splits) remains a more productive protect. In addition, there are a number of success stories for development, including the rookies Zach Edey and Jaylen Wells, both of which started an injury to the Grizzlies this season for the Grizzlies.

Morant, Jackson and Bane once formed the basis for increasing Big Three. The grizzlies had one of the deepest rotters in the league. And they could compete with someone in the West. They were even for a spell this season, at least until they talented talents in the trading period.

Again: it was a strange year in Memphis.

Head

The thunder swept her regular season series with the grizzlies 4-0.

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Memphis was in three of the four meetings without Morant or Jackson. Not that it would be important. OKC, which was also three times important contributors three times, hires the grizzlies when they were healthy. SGA scored 35, 32, 41 and 37 points in the four games. Memphis had – or has – no answer.

The thunder exceeded the grizzlies by 30.8 points per 100 possessions when Gilgeous-Alexander was on the square and ran offensive and defensive units that the NBA would have run with wide margins. It didn’t matter who was on the floor with him. Hartenstein, Wiggins, Williams and there were +21 in eight minutes. Wiggins, Wallace, Kenrich Williams and Ajay Mitchell were in four minutes +11. Go down the list.

To see Matchup

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander against Ja Morant

Don’t let us rethink that. SGA and Morant are two of the most electrifying players in the entire league, and it will be fascinating that Morant tries to keep up with Gilgeous-Alexander’s goal in this series.

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Neither will spend a lot of time to guard the other, unless you naturally chase yourself in the pick-and-roll. Wells pulled most of the SGA order in the regular season and it is no longer available. Vince Williams Jr. will probably fall this responsibility, who had a certain degree of success against SGA in the regular season. It is the question of a selection in the middle of the second step, although Memphis asks many of his projects.

Conversely, the thunder has any number of options to throw the morant. According to the tracking data of the NBA, Caruso, Wiggins and Wallace spent a total value of 18:09 to Morant, which ended with 19 points at 7-von-27 shooting (25.9%) and eight templates against four sales. Not great.

Crunch-time constellations

Oklahoma City Thunder

It’s funny: one of the most used upstream OKC constellations is the outfit of the quarterly, since the thunder has brought so many opponents out of so many opponents this season. The same applies to four games against Memphis.

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When the games are nearby, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneult has endless possibilities. Expect SGA, Williams, Holmgren and there – a four -person who has exceeded 13.5 points with the cleaning of the Glass with 13.5 points this season. From there, the thunder can become small, either play Wallace or Caruso or Wiggins or Isaiah Joe (for shooting), or they can grow up and play hard stone next to Holmgren. It is practically unfair the arsenal the thunder has.

Memphis grizzlies

When Push pushed into the coupling of a game against the Golden State Warriors, Iisalo Morant, Jackson, Bane, Bane, Edey and Scotty Pippen Jr., this group hardly played together in the regular season. There are also a few questions whether the slowly footprint edey can stay on the floor in this series. The thunder has the size and sportiness to make it terribly difficult. On the other hand, it was also not a recipe for the success of Crunch-Time, Santi Aldama’s shooting for EDEY. To be honest, Iisalo will be lucky enough to have the opportunity to look for a proper clutch against OKC.

Forecast: Donner in five

Give the grizzlies a game just to be nice. But OKC is more concerned with the more serious teams that will clear the street in the west than with a Memphis team that cannot bring his plot together.

Series betting opportunities

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Oklahoma City Thunder (-2000)

Memphis Grizzlies (+1000)

Series plan (all times Eastern)

Game 1: Sunday @ Oklahoma City (1 p.m., ABC)

Game 2: Tue., April 22nd @ Oklahoma City (7:30 p.m., TNT)

Game 3: Thu., April 24 @ Memphis (9:30 p.m., TNT)

Game 4: Sat., April 26 @ Memphis (3:30 p.m., TNT)

*Game 5: Mon., April 28 @ Oklahoma City (TBD)

*Game 6: Thu., May 1st @ Memphis (TBD)

*Game 7: Sat., May 3 @ Oklahoma City (TBD)

*if necessary

Further series views

East: Kavalier-Heat • Celtics-Magic • Knicks-Olen • Pacers-Bucks

West: Thunder-Grizzlies • Rockets Greakors • Lakers wolves • Nuggets clipper