OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) 鈥� The Oklahoma City beat the Memphis Grizzlies 131-80 in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference on Sunday, the fifth-biggest margin of victory in NBA postseason history.
The was seven points shy of the record and was the largest Game 1 win in NBA playoff history.
Aaron Wiggins scored 21 points, Jalen Williams scored 20 points and Chet Holmgren had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league鈥檚 scoring champion with nearly 33 points per game, scored just 15. The Thunder still shot 50.5% from the field.
鈥淲e played to our identity,鈥� Gilgeous-Alexander said. 鈥淣othing more, nothing less than that. We were who we were all year ... and it鈥檚 going to be the key to our success, just staying true to who we are.鈥�
Gilgeous-Alexander had said several times since Oklahoma City鈥檚 loss to Dallas in last season鈥檚 Western Conference semifinals that he would be intentional about getting his teammates better prepared for this postseason.
So far, so good.
鈥淚 have a great group of guys around me, and I know that,鈥� Gilgeous-Alexander said. 鈥淎nd I鈥檝e known that for a long time. ... They obviously played amazing.鈥�
There have been two 58-point playoff margins in NBA history: Denver beating New Orleans 121-63 in 2009 and the Minneapolis Lakers beating the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 in 1956. The Los Angeles Lakers beat Golden State by 56 (126-70) in 1973 and the Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks by 54 (120-66) in 2015.
Ja Morant scored 17 points for Memphis on just 6-for-17 shooting. Jaren Jackson Jr., who averaged just over 22 points in the regular season, scored four points on 2-for-13 shooting. The Grizzlies shot just 34.4% overall.
The Thunder, who finished the regular-season with a league-best 68-14 record, took control with a 20-0 run that gave them a 55-22 lead in the second quarter. They took a 35-point lead into halftime.
鈥淚 just felt like after that, the energy just kind of wasn鈥檛 there and we were just trying to talk to ourselves to get back into the game," Morant said.
This was Memphis鈥� first playoff game under interim coach Tuomas Iisalo. He coached just nine NBA regular-season contests before the play-in games.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e in a playoff series, it鈥檚 a best of seven,鈥� Iisalo said. "It doesn鈥檛 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鈥檚 only one way from this and that鈥檚 up. And we will analyze it and learn from it. And then we will fix those things that hurt us.鈥�
Game 2 is Tuesday, and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault expects a closer game.
鈥淭hey played 36 hours ago and had an emotional game, had to turn around and play at noon today, which is a really tough turnaround,鈥� Daigneault said. "So they鈥檙e going to be better Tuesday. So I thought we did a good job. But I don鈥檛 think we can expect that from them (again). You know they鈥檙e going to play a lot better than that.鈥�
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AP NBA:
Cliff Brunt, The Associated Press
