By Field Level Media
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Aaron Wiggins scored 21 points off the bench and Jalen Williams added 20 as the Oklahoma City Thunder earned a 131-80 home rout of the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series on Sunday.

The Thunder had plenty of blowout victories in the regular season, setting an NBA record for scoring margin in running away with the top seed in the West. They had also rolled past the Grizzlies in all four regular-season meetings by 13 or more points.

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But this blowout was at a different level.

Oklahoma City’s 51-point victory was the fifth largest in NBA playoff history, according to ESPN, and the largest in the first game of a playoff series.

“We were amped up,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. “I give the guys a lot of credit for the week of practice we had.”

Conversely, Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo expressed disappointment in his team’s performance.

“It’s very hard to play worse than this,” Iisalo said.

The Thunder, with the league’s top-ranked defense, smothered Memphis from the start.

Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies’ top two scorers, finished a combined 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) from the field and 1 of 10 from beyond the arc. Morant was 1 of 6 from deep.

“We’ll never play like this again,” Morant bluntly stated.

Memphis managed just 20 points in the first quarter and things only got worse.

Oklahoma City started the second quarter with a 23-2 run, scoring on 10 consecutive possessions, to turn the game into a blowout.

After scoring 20 or more points in each of his final 72 games of the regular season, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with just 15 points on 4 of 13 shooting.

Gilgeous-Alexander was just 1 of 7 from 3-point range with his only 3-pointer coming in the closing moments of the second quarter to send the Thunder into halftime with a 68-36 lead. The Thunder’s MVP favorite didn’t score less than 18 points in a game during the regular season.

Daigneault addressed the Thunder’s massive win, despite their superstar’s underwhelming performance.

“That’s what a team is,” he stated. “You don’t want to be dependent on one player for anything. … That’s what teams do, they pick each other up.”

Oklahoma City kept pouring it on in the second half, scoring the first 12 points of the third quarter.

Chet Holmgren had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Isaiah Hartenstein added 14 points as the Thunder outscored Memphis 27-5 on fast-break points and delivered 24 points off 24 Grizzlies’ turnovers.

Oklahoma City hadn’t played in a week, while the Grizzlies played a pair of play-in games to reach the series, including one on Friday.

“Thought we were tight in our stuff … set a good tone,” Daigneault added. “But they played 36 hours ago and had an emotional game, had to turn around and play at noon today, which is a really tough turnaround. So, they’re going to be better Tuesday, going to be fresher. They’re big-time competitors.”

Morant and Marvin Bagley III led Memphis with 17 points each. Bagley finished 8 of 8 from the field, including hitting a buzzer-beating shot from beyond halfcourt to end the third quarter.

The Grizzlies were just 6 of 34 (17.6 percent) from beyond the arc and finished shooting 34.4 percent overall.

“There’s no magic tricks,” Iisalo noted. “We’ll watch the tape and do things better next time.”

Celtics erase small halftime deficit to trounce Magic in Game 1

Derrick White made seven 3-point attempts and scored a team-high 30 points Sunday to lead the Boston Celtics to a 103-86 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic in Game 1 of their NBA Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Jayson Tatum added 17 points and 14 rebounds for second-seeded Boston, which received 19 points off the bench from Payton Pritchard. Jaylen Brown, who missed the final three regular-season games with posterior impingement in his right knee, finished with 16 points in 30 minutes.

Boston trailed by one at halftime, but took control by outscoring seventh-seeded Orlando 30-18 in the third.

“This is the playoffs. Game of runs and we had a good response in the second half,” White said. “I just try to stay aggressive. Obviously (Tatum and Brown) get a lot of attention. Whenever I get an opportunity, I have to be ready to go. Stay ready. … My teammates do a good job of finding me and keeping me involved in the offense, so it’s a lot of fun when you got it going. We got a long way to go.”

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said that All-Star Tatum probably wasn’t as efficient as he would have liked — shooting 8-for-22 from the floor including 1 of 8 on 3-pointers — but showed poise and also contributed on defense and rebounding.

“That’s the most important thing. … You gotta answer the call defensively and physicality-wise,” Mazzulla said. “I thought (Tatum) did that, especially with the rebounding in the second half (nine boards).”

Orlando’s Paulo Banchero led all scorers with 36 points. He also had 11 rebounds.

Franz Wagner contributed 23 points and five assists, but no other Magic player scored more than Jonathan Isaac’s seven points. Orlando’s Wendell Carter Jr. grabbed 13 rebounds.

Boston led 26-18 after one quarter and extended its lead to 12 points — its largest lead of the first half — when Pritchard connected on a 3-pointer with 10:50 left in the second quarter.

A 9-0 Orlando run sliced Boston’s lead to two points, then Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 3-pointer with 1:57 remaining gave the Magic a 45-44 edge. The Magic led 49-48 at halftime as Banchero scored 19 points.

The Celtics scored 28 of the first 38 points in the third quarter and held a 76-59 advantage following Brown’s dunk with 1:56 left in the quarter. Boston had a 78-67 lead entering the final 12 minutes.

“I think we got a little stagnant on offense,” Orlando’s Wagner said. “That’s when they’re a really good defensive team. Then they got a couple easy 3s in transition.”

The Celtics led 89-71 early in the fourth and extended the lead to 19 points as the Magic never threatened.

Boston was 16 of 37 (43.2 percent) from 3-point range. Orlando was 10 of 27 (37 percent) from behind the 3-point arc, but was held to three 3-pointers in the second half.

“I thought we did a great job of attacking the rim. … We gotta continue to go in there strong,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Didn’t like the 15 turnovers for 24 points. You gotta give yourself a chance there, so our ability to take care of the basketball is going to be very big for us against them.”

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played Wednesday in Boston.

Donovan Mitchell, Ty Jerome power Cavaliers past Heat

Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points and Ty Jerome scored 16 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter as the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers pulled away for a 121-100 victory over the visiting Miami Heat in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Sunday.

Jerome, a backup point guard, was making his playoff debut in his sixth season.

He also dished three assists in the final period after being named a finalist for the Sixth Man of the Year award earlier in the day. He made 10 of 15 field-goal attempts, including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers.

Mitchell, a six-time All-Star, posted his seventh straight 30-point performance in a series opener, tying Michael Jordan for the NBA record. Jordan accomplished it twice in his legendary playoff career with the Chicago Bulls.

“That’s Donovan. That’s Spida Mitchell. He’s the head of this snake and we go as he goes,” said the Cavaliers’ Darius Garland, who added 27 points.

Jarrett Allen had 12 points, 11 rebounds and three steals for Cleveland, which outscored the Heat 34-21 in the fourth. Its largest lead was the final score, courtesy of Mitchell’s two free throws with 1:23 remaining.

“When we see guys come off the bench like that, we definitely feed off the energy,” Garland said, referring to Jerome. “It gets us fired up. That’s for everybody on this team. We love each other.”

Bam Adebayo had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Tyler Herro scored 21 points for the Heat, who were playing their third game in five days.

Miami needed play-in tournament wins at Chicago on Wednesday and Atlanta on Friday to become the first 10th seed to qualify.

The Heat were within 95-88 early in the fourth before Jerome buried a 3-pointer, sparking “Ty-Jer-ome” chants from the home crowd. He scored seven straight Cleveland points later in the quarter to make it 111-94 with 4:29 to play before Garland delivered the dagger with two treys.

Davion Mitchell had 18 points and nine assists off the Miami bench, and Andrew Wiggins scored 14 points. Aside from Jerome’s big night, Cleveland’s reserves had only six points, all by Sam Merrill.

“When (Donovan Mitchell or Garland) go out, Ty Jerome comes in and there is no drop-off,” Davion Mitchell said. “We’ve got to take care of that the next game.”

The Cavaliers won two of the teams’ three regular-season games, their only loss coming in Miami. This is the first time they have met in the playoffs.

“They were a lot more physical than us, and that obviously set the tone,” Herro said. “We’ve got to clean that up.”