On Sunday afternoon, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies faced off in the highly anticipated first game of the Western Conference’s one vs. eight-seed matchup.
The team’s grappled for the lead early in the fourth quarter before a two-way explosion from Oklahoma City, who eventually coasted to a blowout win in their first postseason action of the year. In the first half, they used a 30-5 run to coast to their largest halftime lead in franchise history at 32. From there, the team never looked back.
Jalen Williams led the starters with 20 points on 10-for-16 shooting, and all four others finished in double-digits scoring, though Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 20-point streak came to an end.
Here is how X, formerly known as Twitter, reacted to the game:
Ready to Thunder Up! ⚡️ @okcthunder pic.twitter.com/nyNTjZsKb3
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) April 20, 2025
Cason just baptized a man on Easter Sunday.
— Jacob Kniffen (@JacobKniffen) April 20, 2025
Cason Wallace with more hops than the Easter Bunny on that one.
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) April 20, 2025
This is an absolute blowout here early.
— Nick Crain (@CrainNBA) April 20, 2025
OKC: 51
MEM: 22
Extremely rude and stressful OKC defense, per usual. If there's a team that should adopt "defense wins championships," this is the one :)
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) April 20, 2025
Hartenstein is 7/7
— J.D. Silva (@jdsilva_) April 20, 2025
The Thunder defense has been unbelievable. Just a buzz saw. No clue how the Grizzlies can create an advantage... especially with Edey out there
— Andrew Schlecht (@AndrewKSchlecht) April 20, 2025
Morant didn't even attempt a shot to go into halftime lol. This team is cooked mentally
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 20, 2025
The 32-point halftime lead is the largest in Thunder history.
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) April 20, 2025
Per Thunder
Shai & Chet’s reactions were perfect lol. pic.twitter.com/A4HIGrLZ26
— Thunder Film Room (@ThunderFilmRoom) April 20, 2025
JDUB RAHHHHHHH
— GilgeousSzn⛈️ (@GilgeousSZN) April 20, 2025
pic.twitter.com/aolgjCA75Y
Alex Caruso in the first half for the Thunder
— Michael Martin (@MichaelOnSports) April 20, 2025
12 minutes
0 points
3 rebounds
4 assists
+30
This might need to be a series that they put on Tubi
— The Daniel Bell© (@BasketballGuruD) April 20, 2025
JALEN WILLIAMS OH MY GOODNESS
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 20, 2025
Thunder up BIG. pic.twitter.com/FhHElSKcae
Gotta think the Thunder would be up by even more if that guy put on the shirt
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) April 20, 2025
The Thunder are up by 50 points in a playoff game
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 20, 2025
They’re going for it. Revenge for this. pic.twitter.com/l2WtsNnk5E
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) April 20, 2025
Memphis is not a good team, but this is an absolute evisceration from OKC. Putting everyone on notice.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) April 20, 2025
That Bagley shot pic.twitter.com/Itw9iirSWJ
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) April 20, 2025
Look. This probably isn’t how the Grizzlies wanted Game 1 to go. But Marvin Bagley’s been really good.
— Carson Breber (@Carsobi) April 20, 2025
The Grizzlies just rage quit… pic.twitter.com/iqnuGDbmy7
— Overtime (@overtime) April 20, 2025
Jalen Williams was +44 today.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 20, 2025
The highest +/- ever by a Thunder player in the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/4ahTAJbEDk
Dillon Jones is about to check in. Everybody on the Thunder has played today
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 20, 2025
Desmond Bane just posted the worst plus-minus in NBA playoff history
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) April 20, 2025
Grizzlies were -51 with him on the floor, surpassing the -45 held by Andre Drummond in 2019 and Klay Thompson in 2022. Klay’s was at the hands of Bane and the Grizzlies.
The Thunder and Grizzlies face off again for Game 2 at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22.
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